HYDERABAD: Thousands of drum-beating girls thronged the site where four accused of gang rape and murder were “encountered” by the Cyberabad police at 3.30 am on Friday. The accused—Mohammad Arif (27), Jollu Shiva (22), J. Naveen (21) and A. Chennakesavulu (23)—gang raped and burnt alive a 26-year-old veterinary doctor on 27 November.
The women, who gathered in large numbers at the site of the encounter—a few feet from the place where the victim was raped—danced and distributed sweets, celebrating the killing of the accused. Many people in Hyderabad and nearby areas fired crackers and colleges and educational institutions witnessed festive atmosphere right from 7 am as crowds cheered raising slogans of “Justice for the victim”.
Women across the country—rocked by protest demonstrations demanding hanging of the rapists—expressed a general feeling of relief, if not reparation of damage over the killing of the four accused, all of the age group 27 to 21 years, by the police who took them into their custody from a court on Wednesday. The victim’s family hailed the police “encounter” of the gang rapists.
The parents of the victim told media at their residence: “We appreciate the police for this instant justice which is a lesson for rapists. Our daughter won’t come back to us, but at least her soul will rest in peace.” The victim doctor’s younger sister said: “I expected death penalty to the accused, but the encounter of them is a matter of greater satisfaction to me.”
According to a statement issued by the Cyberabad police, the four accused had tried to escape from a police party when they were taken to the site where they raped and burnt the young doctor alive on the fateful day. They were there as part of “reconstruction” of the crime scene as per the investigation process.
“The accused had tried to run away from the police. They even threw stones and tried to snatch weapons from the cops too. Then the police had to open fire on them,” said the release issued by Cyberabad police commissioner V.C. Sajjanar. The top brass of police, including Sajjanar, visited the encounter site where the doctor was raped and burnt alive.
The police got the custody for 14 days of the accused on 4 December. On the first day, all the four accused confessed their crime and told the cops that they had burnt her alive out of fear that she might lodge a complaint against them. The next day they showed the places where they committed the atrocity against her and burnt her etc.
The Cyberabad police wanted to reconstruct the sequence of crime with the help of the accused, exactly at a timeline when they perpetrated the crime on the victim. So, they were at the toll plaza at around 7 pm and then on, reconstructed the whole scene of gang rape and murder plan vividly. During the time when they were recounting the burning of her body, the scuffling between the cops and the accused took place.
According to the police, as many as 12 bullets were fired by them while chasing the accused who tried to snatch their weapons and run away. All the four bodies were found within a radius of 100 meters beside the national highway connecting Hyderabad and Bangalore near Shadnagar which is 5 km from the international airport.
It is not that the police killing of the gang rape accused was not objected to by a section of people who raised objection over the “extra judicial killings” in their haste to deliver “instant justice” to the victim family. But, a majority of people have welcomed the killings and supported the police for their “speedy and timely act”.
The Parliament, too, discussed the encounter of the four accused and an overall mood of relief was evident from across the political spectrum. Union Minister Smriti Irani’s compliments to the Cyberabad police were backed by similar appreciation from different political leaders. People, especially young women from all over India, greeted the encounter.
The Cyberabad police were more than relieved as they were showered with flowers on Friday as they still remember the stones pelted at them on 28 November when the accused were arrested and taken to the Chenchelguda central prison amid high security. As the mobs chased the police convoy to take control of the accused, the cops had to resort to lathi-charge.
The Telangana government has constituted a fast-track court with First Class Additional Magistrate at Mahabubnagar for trial of the case on Wednesday. The Telangana Bar Association has resolved that no lawyer should argue for the accused. The fast track court would have given its verdict within a month or so in this case.
However, there were doubts over the efficacy of the verdict of the fast-track-courts which often fail to stand the test of scrutiny in a High Court. Recently, the death penalty awarded to a rapist and murder of a nine-month-old child from Warangal was overruled by the High Court which converted it into a life sentence. The people of Warangal had expressed their displeasure over the High Court’s verdict.
The Cyberabad police was under severe pressure in the young veterinarian doctor’s gang rape and murder case for its failure to act in time. Three cops, including a sub-inspector and two constables from the Shamshabad police station, were suspended for failing to register an FIR after the parents of the victim came to lodge their complaint when she went missing.
Governor Tamilisai and Union Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy were among those who called on the parents of the victim and assured speedy justice. Telangana IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao, however, wondered how the accused of the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case were still kept in Tihar jail in Delhi and fed like guests. The overall mood of people in this latest gang rape case was for “instant justice”.