Even as legal experts demand immediate probe into the mysterious encounter of the four accused in the rape and murder of a Hyderabad-based veterinarian, Indian shuttler Jwala Gutta posed an important question on Friday.
A week after the brutal gang rape and murder of the young veterinarian in Hyderabad, police shot dead all the four accused in an alleged 'encounter' near Shadnagar town.
The accused were killed in the early hours of Friday when they allegedly snatched weapons from the police and tried to escape from Chatanpally near Shadnagar, about 50 kms from Hyderabad.
Celebs reacted to the news with many hailing the police, but Gutta was one of those who chose to question the method of justice delivery. She asked: "Will this stop the future rapists? And an important question: will every rapist be treated the same way... irrespective of their social standing," in a tweet.
But her fellow badminton player Saina Nehwal lauded the Hyderabad Police.
"Great work Hyderabad Police...we salute u," tweeted Nehwal.
Veteran Congress leader Shashi Tharoor also took to the popular social media platform and wrote, "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."
Meanwhile, former President of Supreme Court Bar Association, Vikas Singh said that "the rule of law should prevail in the country, there should be an immediate inquiry into the encounter of the accused."
He emphasised that there should be a balance between the justice delivery system and the human rights of the citizens.
"The authorities should immediately begin an inquiry into this encounter, and this probe should be completed as soon as possible. The authorities should ascertain whether it was a genuine encounter or it was stage-managed by the police," added Singh.
Senior advocate Puneet Mittal said that there should immediately be a judicial probe into the matter to unearth the real picture behind this mysterious encounter.
"The probe should be on the factors that were behind this encounter. The families of the accused could also move the court seeking inquiry into the matter," added Mittal.
Senior advocate Sanjay Parekh said according to the law the encounter should be looked into as killings.
"As per law, a case should be registered against the police officials involved in the alleged encounter followed by a probe," said Parekh.
He also insisted that usually, the action of the police officials claiming self-defense comes into the picture at the stage of the trial, but at this stage of the case, there should be a probe immediately to verify the encounter.
The four accused killed in the encounter were identified as lorry drivers Mohammed Arif (26) and Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu (20), and lorry cleaners Jollu Shiva (20) and Jollu Naveen (20). All hailed from the Narayanpet district of Telangana.
This was not the first such encounter in Telangana. In December 2008, three accused of an acid attack were killed by Warangal Police when they 'tried' to attack the cops at the crime scene.
V C Sajjanar, the present Police Commissioner of Cyberabad was SP of Warangal at that time.
Incidentally, the Indian cricket team and West Indies will be taking on each other in a T20I game on Friday evening at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Hyderabad.
(With inputs from agencies)
