When an ASI and a home guard jawan were found murdered at a police post at Adhian village, 500 metres from the international border on February 21, it sparked national outrage. Union Home Minister Amit Shah condemned it swiftly, as did the Punjab Chief Minister, cabinet ministers, senior BSF and police officers and politicians cutting across party lines.These two officials, employees of the state government, formed the second line of defence, manned by Punjab Police, against drug smuggling from Pakistan.The big question was if some terrorists had infiltrated the country from across the wire fencing?Three days later, it turned out that some local youths had carried out the killings at the behest of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Then, a more troubling chapter unfolded, setting Punjab abuzz ever since then.The police picked up 19-year-old Ranjit Singh, a Gurdaspur college student, based on CCTV footage linking him to the killings. Handcuffed and en-route to Behrampur police station, 12 km away from Gurdaspur, in a jeep for weapon recovery, the vehicle allegedly overturned around 3 am. In the chaos, police claim, he escaped.Three hours later, at Puranashala—24 km away—he was shot dead in ‘retaliatory fire’. Officers said that he rode a motorcycle, ignored a challenge to stop, fired at police and died in the shootout. They told his family it was an ‘encounter’.The family members got suspicious after the cops put forward different versions of the sequence of events leading to the alleged shoot-out.Questions erupted immediately. This is the latest in Punjab’s sharp rise in police encounters—nearly one every alternate day. DGP Gaurav Yadav is on record stating that 324 armed clashes took place between police and criminal gangs from April 2022 to October 2025.In Ranjit’s case, eyewitnesses contradict police: there was no fog that night, undermining the overturn claim. How did a handcuffed youth cover 24 km in three hours? From where did he get a motorcycle and pistol? If handcuffed, how did he ride? If not, how did he free himself? No officer has answered. One investigator cited ‘irrefutable evidence’ against Ranjit, then disclaimed knowledge of the encounter. Seniors cite a ‘magisterial inquiry’.Police invoked the ISI, alleging Ranjit was “indoctrinated, brainwashed and financed” by Pakistan’s agency—citing drone activity in Dorangla block. His family demands proof, dismissing the cops’ claims as rhetoric.DIG (Border) Sandeep Goel called it ‘poetic justice’ at a press conference.The courts disagree with that framing. A court has asked for the CCTV footage at the encounter site to be preserved. It has also asked mobile companies to retain call records of officers — including the Gurdaspur SSP — from February 20 to 28. Most significantly, it has questioned the injuries sustained by CIA in-charge Gurmeet Singh, who led the encounter, and asked a medical board to determine whether they are self-inflicted or genuine. He is still ‘recuperating’ in a government hospital.Ranjit’s family rejects the narrative, seeking details from pickup to death. DGP Yadav, recently speaking to media in Chandigarh, defended encounters stating there was “no policy to inflict bodily harm,” but retaliatory fire follows when suspects shoot first. “In recent encounters, criminals fired first; our teams targeted legs for restraint,” he said.Bizarre patternThe pattern in most of these cases is strikingly consistent: an accused escapes custody, opens fire on police and is shot dead. No police officer is killed. No independent witnesses come forward. The families are told their son died in an encounter.What the families are sayingIn case after case, families of those killed in encounters have raised similar objections. They allege their sons were picked up from home, held in unofficial custody for hours, and only later presented in official records as suspects who “escaped” and “opened fire.”Ranjit’s kin ask: How did he get a pistol and mount a bike despite being handcuffed?Families across cases allege unofficial custody before “escapes.” A Punjab and Haryana High Court petition by Nikhil Saraf, filed days later, demands records of all “escape” killings/injuries in two years. “Identical storylines, no officer punished for escapes—proving pre-planning,” it argues, urging Supreme Court-mandated independent probes.Broader Concern: Rule of Law vs. ResultsHuman rights activist Navkiran Singh warns unchecked encounters are “intoxicating” and dangerous in Punjab’s history. “We had fake encounters in the 1980s-’90s; thousands vanished in counter-insurgency. Many were extrajudicial. Families still wait.”The near-daily pace at which ‘encounters’ are happening suggests top-level nod. Will Punjab revert to the ‘encounter raj’ of terrorism era?