to murder or culpable homicide not amounting to murder, unless it is established that the causing of death is for justiciable reasons. If a police officer kills someone in an encounter, he/she must prove that the death was caused either in the legitimate exercise of the right of private defence or in the use of force, proportional to the resistance offered, while arresting a person accused of an offence punishable with death or life imprisonment. This can only be ascertained by a proper investigation and not otherwise. The National Police Commission in its report powerfully recommended that fake encounters are to be sternly discouraged by the police leaders, as this is not a remedy for the situation. The answer is to strengthen the law and legal processes. IPC Sections - on Encounter ¾ ¾ ¾ Use force in self-defence only to protect yourself and others from the actions of the assaulting criminals/offenders, whose actions reasonably cause the apprehension of death or grievous hurt to you or to others – Section 97 and Section 99 IPC. Use of force for self-defence should start only when there is a reasonable apprehension of danger to the body arising from the act or threat to commit an act by the assaulting offenders/criminals. Moreover, use of force for self-defence should continue only as long as such apprehension of the danger to the body continues - Section, 102 IPC. Use force for self-defence to the extent of causing death or any harm to the assaulting offenders/criminals only if an assault by them reasonably causes the apprehension of death or grievous hurt to you or to others -Section 100, IPC C. Review There are many who feel that there is a higher rationale for such actions of fake encounters in compelling circumstances, as the law of the land has repeatedly found itself helpless in dealing with individuals bent on bleeding the country. Their argument, that the rule of law is a means to an end and not an end in itself, often finds support in the jurisprudential principles of salus populi est suprema lex (the people’s welfare is the supreme law) and salus res publica est suprema lex (the safety of the nation is supreme law). Even the Supreme Court of India, in the case of D.K. Basu vs. State of West Bengal [1997 (1) SCC 416] accepted the validity of these two principles and 28 Manual on Human Rights for Police Officers