By Matters India Reporter

New Delhi, Nov. 6, 2019: People and groups have reacted differently to the encounter killing of four accused of rape-murder in Telangana.

Police officials in the southern Indian state said their men shot dead the four around 3:30 am on December 6 under a bridge on the Bengaluru-Hyderabad national highway near Chattanpalli village in Shadnagar.

Prakash Reddy, a deputy commissioner of police, said the accused were being taken to the crime scene for reconstructing the sequence of events when they snatched weapons and tried to attack the police. The police fired back in self defense, he said.

Mohammad Ali alias Mohammad Arif, Jollu Shiva, Jollu Naveen Kumar and Chintakunta Chenna Keshavulu were accused of assaulting the 26-year-old woman on November 28 near Shadnagar town outside Hyderabad and then burning her body. They were in judicial custody for 14 days after their arrests.

While some have commended the police, others said such actions set a dangerous trend.

The National Federation of Indian Women expressed outrage at what it says was the mockery of justice by the Telangana Police.

“As the oldest women’s organization in the country, standing firmly by feminist and social justice principles, we unequivocally condemn encounter killings of the accused in the Hyderabad Rape Case by Telangana Police in what is being said to be part of the ‘investigation process’. For even a semblance of justice to be delivered in a case of sexual violence so horrific, it was imperative that due process was allowed to take place and justice was delivered by the courts after the crime of the accused was proven, rather than by the police,” the federation said in a press statement.

They also expressed dismay over various political forces have rejoicing the “denial of justice” in the case.

“This senseless act of Telangana police has not helped the cause of women at all in the country, rather it has pushed back the struggle of women who have fought for a fair and accessible legal justice system,” the federation said.

It, however, clarified that it understood people’s anger and helplessness over the failure of the police and judicial system to check sexual violence in the country.

“As an organization that has consistently led and been part of struggles to ensure justice to survivors of sexual violence, we too feel this anger and pain acutely. But we believe that the only way the position of women in this country will be strengthened and become more secure is through the strengthening of the legal justice system. Encounters by police of the accused do not ensure justice,” it adds.

It called for more coherent programs on gender sensitization and urged governments and police to efficiently implement existing legislation to prevent crimes against women.

“We ask what right does the Telangana police have to circumvent a procedure for justice that the women in the country have struggled so hard for? In a country fraught with cases of lynching and mob violence, Telangana Police should be ashamed for furthering the blood lust of people who stand against the very principles of natural justice.”

The federation demanded a probe into the incident by a high-level committee and immediate suspension of the officers involved in the killing.

“We have no sympathy for members of established political forces in the country who are lauding this illegal action by the police in this reprehensible chain of events. As a women’s organization we vow to continue working hard for more timely and just convictions and against extra judicial encounters by forces who decide to take law in their own hands.”

One of the political leaders to commend the police was Mayawati of the Bahujan Samaj Party.

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Uma Bharti wants the encounter policemen to be felicitated.

“This is the biggest incident in the 19th year of this century that will guarantee women’s safety,” Uma Bharti tweeted in Hindi.

“I can now believe that people in governance in other states will find ways to teach criminals an immediate lesson,” she added.

“Grief of the family whose daughter went away from the world after suffering mercilessness will never be alleviated, but that sister’s (rape victim) soul will find peace and the fear among other girls of India will be lessened. Jai Telangana Police.”

The Telangana police action was hailed by the mother of a young girl who was gang-raped and murdered in the national capital on December 16, 2012.

“I am extremely happy with this punishment. Police have done a great job and I demand that no action should be taken against the police personnel,” she said.

However, Maneka Gandhi, a BJP MP, condemned the encounter, Shashi Tharoor, a parliamentarian belonging to the Congress party, was more cautious in his reaction.

Gandhi said that one cannot take law into one’s hand. “What happened is really bad for the country… you cannot kill people because you want to. You cannot take law in your hands, they (accused) would have been hanged by court anyhow.”

Tharoor said one should not rush to condemn until details emerge.

The chairperson of the National Commission for Women, Rekha Sharma, said the accused should have been brought to justice through “proper channels.”

“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,” Sharma said.

“We always demanded death penalty for them, and here the police are the best judge, I don’t know in what circumstances this happened,” she said.