Activists condemn unlawful killings

Hyderabad: Human rights groups have called it an “alleged encounter”, “cold blooded murder” and demanded that the police must be booked for homicide.

Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee general secretary, Lateef Mohammed Khan, said, “It is a cold-blooded murder which was meticulously planned and executed. The killing of the suspects has taken away the major clues which would have later shed light on the crime.”

“There are many questions which will remain unanswered forever as the case is now closed. Was there an attempt to save the others in the system? The crime was heinous, no doubt, but there are many lapses in the system which led to the crime. Is the cold blooded murder an attempt to hide these failures?” Mr Khan asked. After the Nirbahaya incident, the Verma Commis-sion had given a list which must be implemented in the criminal law system. Has that been done, ask the activists.

The Human Rights Forum demanded that all police personnel who participated in the killing of the accused must be arrested and prosecuted for homicide.

G. Madhava Rao, HRF’s Telangana state president, said, “The police have taken advantage of the sentiment of the people and carried out murder. This is the third incident of custodial killing and these are methodical slayings by the police in their physical custody. It is not justice of any kind. It is merely satisfying the collective conscience in an unlawful and murderous manner.”

In December, 2008, three accused in acid attack where murdered in Warangal. In October 20, 2007, two men accused in the murder of Bank of Indore branch manager were murdered by Visakhapatnam police near Yendada.

Human rights activists state that the police claim of self-defence is farcical.

There are major questions being raised whether these killings will make women safer. The activists say no. Preventing crimes against women requires a long, sustained and complex battle and has to be fought at homes, educational institutes and also places of work.