It is 1.30 am on November 23, 2005. A thirty-eight year old man and his wife are traveling on a luxury bus from Hyderabad to Sangli, Maharashtra. A friend by the name of Tulsiram Prajapati is accompanying them. The bus driver is trying hard to stay awake, when a Qualis swerves in front of him. He brakes hard. Another car, a Tata Sumo, pulls up beside him. Five ATS officers dressed in plain clothes storm the bus. They tell the driver to stay calm, they are simply conducting a routine police check. The man is dragged out of the car. His wife screams, begging for his release while insisting that she remains with him. Both are taken away, along with Prajapati.

Within a few days the man is shot dead. He is labeled a terrorist, an agent for the LET, conspiring to kill political leaders including Narendra Modi. His name, Sohrabuddin, suitably fits the profile of a terrorist. The woman is alive for a few more days, after which she too is killed, her body burnt, her remains missing forever.

The friend is safe – for the moment. On December 28, 2006, a little over a year later, he too is shot dead. Police claim he was a member of the Sharif Pathan gang. In actuality, he was a witness to police terrorism.

It is now 2010. Rajkumar Pandiya, one of the IPS officers accused of killing Sohrabuddin, is brought to court for a bail plea hearing. Through his counsel, Ram Jethmalani, he says that he “should have been honoured and not hounded” for eliminating a notorious terrorist. He continues, somewhat ironically, Sohrabuddin may have been “killed in a fake encounter, but for that the process of law cannot be subverted.”

On the same day, another man is brought to court in Mumbai. He is accused of a similar charge. Shooting innocent civilians at a point blank range. His name is Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab – the lone surviving terrorist of the Mumbai attacks in 2008. It is yet to be decided whether he will be sentenced to death.

The similarity between the so-called protectors of the nation and the so-called enemies of the nation is uncanny. The point is there is always a justification. Always a few words which can make an action seem right. Whether it is a corrupt police officer staging an encounter, a young man with an ideology and an AK-47, or even a court of law sentencing a criminal on the basis of verifiable evidence, everyone has a reason.

Without going into the finer details of what is justice, I believe it is safe to say that there is no ‘honour’ in killing. If Ajmal Kasab can be sentenced to death for killing, I believe the Indian state is guilty of the same crime. Should the Indian state then be sentenced to the same punishment?