Senior Telangana minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav, on Saturday, backed the alleged killing of four accused in veterinarian's rape and murder case in a police encounter and said it would send across a strong message to sexual predators that if they commit such crime, there will be an encounter.
Yadav, the State Animal Husbandry Minister, said that Friday’s extrajudicial killing of the four accused, who allegedly gang-raped and brutally killed the 26-year-old veterinary surgeon near Hyderabad, was a lesson that if anyone does something “wrong and cruel”, he will be gunned down in police encounter.
The minister further said that if the conduct of a person is wrong, it cannot be changed through any court trial, a prison sentence or subsequent bail as the case drags on.
Yadav, in an interview with a local television channel, had also said that Friday’s encounter was an example of the K Chandrashekar Rao-led Telangana government’s commitment to improving the law and order situation in the state.
On Friday, all the four accused, who were arrested on charges of raping and setting the woman ablaze accused in Telangana's Shamshabad on November 27, were shot dead in police encounter after they allegedly tried to escape while the crime scene was being reconstructed, a development that drew sharp criticism from various quarters including, rights groups and senior officers in the judiciary.
Earlier on Saturday, Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde had opposed the practice of extrajudicial killing, saying that justice loses its character when it takes the form of revenge. "I believe justice loses its character if it becomes revenge," he had said.
The police’s action received mixed opinion with some claiming that the move would act as a deterrent and help stop such heinous crime, while others criticising the encounter, saying the accused were killed without being given a chance to prove their innocence in court.
Earlier, Cyberabad Commissioner VC Sajjanar had told the media that the police action was a retaliatory move and that they shot down the four only after they attacked them with stones and sticks.
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