The killing of eight fugitive prisoners on trial for treason has again put the spotlight on what has come to be known as encounter killings — euphemism for cold-blooded extra-judicial murder.

The eight SIMI activists escaped from the Bhopal Central Jail in the wee hours of October 31 after killing a security guard in cold blood. They slit his throat with a sharpened dinner plate from the prison before breaking out of the jail. As they escaped into the nearby Malikheda village, locals alerted the police, who surrounded them and killed them.