The country woke up to a rather shocking news this morning - all four accused in the Hyderabad veterinarian rape and murder case were killed in police firing on National Highway-44 in the wee hours of December 6.?
The incident took place around 6:30 am when the accused were taken to the site of the offence for the recreation of the?crime, as part of the investigation.?
Reports state that when they tried to escape, the cops had to open fire, resulting in the death of all four accused.
The father of the woman veterinarian said he was very happy that all the four accused were killed in an encounter and thanked the police and Telangana government for it.?
"We watched on TV that they were killed in an encounter. We are very happy. Even people are happy. I thank the Telangana government and police for the encounter. I thank everyone who stood by us," the woman's father said. The woman's sister hoped the encounter killing would scare others indulging in such crimes against women.
On social media too, there seems to be overwhelming support for the encounter, however, there are dissenting voices that argue that this may not be the best course of action, as it condones and encourages mob justice as opposed to judicial punishment.
After the encounter, people have been lauding the police, and the victim's neighbour expressed gratitude by tying rakhis to the cops of the Hyderabad police force.?
People even showered rose petals on the police personnel at the spot where the encounter took place and many sent out cheers saying?‘DCP Zindabad, ACP Zindabad’ after the incident.
However, Rekha Sharma, National Commission for Women, said “As a common citizen I am feeling happy that this was the end we all wanted for them. But this end was supposed to be through the legal system. It should have happened through proper channels.”
“We always demanded the death penalty for them, and here police is the best judge, I don’t know in what circumstances this happened.”
Nirbhaya's parents were the first to welcome the action.?Asha Devi, mother of the horrific Nirbhaya case victim, said that this news was a balm to her open wounds since her daughter was brutally raped and murdered.?
? "At least one daughter has been served justice. I thank the police. I have been shouting for 7 years, punish the culprits even if it needs to be done by breaking laws and then see how the society changes for good," Asha Devi said.?
While many are lauding the encounter, questions have been raised about the circumstances surrounding the encounter deaths. Using extra-judicial killings to bypass the legal process is unjustified, it's often used to botched investigations or simply as a tool to pacify public anger.
Congress leader and Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor said extra-judicial killings were not acceptable."Agree in principle. We need to know more, for instance, if the criminals were armed, the police may have been justified in opening fire preemptively. Until details emerge we should not rush to condemn. But extra-judicial killings are otherwise unacceptable in a society of laws," Shashi Tharoor tweeted.
Rights activists accused the government of using "arbitrary violence" to avoid accountability.?Advocate Vrinda Grover said what the police have done is "absolutely unacceptable," and that an FIR should be registered against them.?