Encounter' killings blot on our system: Karti on encounter of T'gana rape accused

New Delhi: Reacting to the encounter of Telangana rape and murder accused, Congress leader Karti Chidambaram said that ‘encounter’ killings are a blot to the system.

Taking to Twitter, he said, “Rape is an heinous crime. It must be dealt with strictly under the provisions of law. While I hold no brief for the alleged perpetrators of this dastardly act, ‘encounter’ killings are a blot to our system. While I understand the urge for instant justice, this is not the way.”

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 death penalty for them, and here police is the best judge, I don't know in what circumstances this happened,” Sharma added.

Congress leader and Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor, however, 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," he tweeted.

BJP MP Maneka Gandhi said, “Jo bhi hua hai bohot bhayanak hua hai is desh ke liye, you cannot kill people because you want to. You cannot take law in your hands, they (accused) would have been hanged by Court anyhow.”

"I don't know facts of what happened in Hyderabad. As a responsible person, all I can say is, it must be thoroughly enquired into, to find out if it was a genuine encounter whether they were trying to flee or it was anything else," Chidambaram said.

Congress leaders Husain Dalwai said that taking of the law into the hands by police cannot be supported.

"The encounter is wrong and cannot be supported. Police taking law into their own hand and destroying it cannot be supported," he said and demanded an inquiry into it.

All four accused in Hyderabad veterinarian's rape and murder case were killed in an encounter at 3:30 am on Friday, the Cyberabad police said.

Read | All 4 accused in Hyd veterinarian's rape, murder case killed in encounter

According to officials, the accused were taken to the crime scene to recreate the incident, when they reportedly tried to escape.