Can't take law in your hands: Maneka Gandhi questions Hyderabad Police over rape-accused encounter

On Hyderabad encounter, Maneka Gandhi said, "You can't take law in your hands, they (accused) would've been hanged by court anyhow. If you're going to shoot them before due process of law has been followed, then what's the point of having courts, law and police?"

File Photo

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Maneka Gandhi has questioned the Hyderabad Police over the encounter of the rape-accused on Friday. Terming the incident as "horrifying", she said that "no one should take law in their hands."

Speaking to the media outside the Parliament, Maneka said, "Jo hua hai bohot bhayanak hua hai desh ke liye. You can't take law in your hands, they (accused) would've been hanged by court anyhow. If you're going to shoot them before due process of law has been followed, then what's the point of having courts, law and police?" reported news agency ANI. 

#WATCH Maneka Gandhi:Jo hua hai bohot bhayanak hua hai desh ke liye. You can't take law in your hands,they(accused) would've been hanged by Court anyhow. If you're going to shoot them before due process of law has been followed, then what's the point of having courts,law&police? pic.twitter.com/w3Fe2whr31 — ANI (@ANI) December 6, 2019

All the four accused in the gangrape and murder case of the vetenirarian were killed in an encounter in the wee hours of Friday. The encounter happened at the crime scene, where the police had taken the accused - Mohammed, Jollu Shiva, Jollu Naveen and Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu - for re-construction of events as part of the investigation. However, when the accused tried to escape from the spot, the police opened fire on them as in self-defence as they tried to attack the cops.

The woman was allegedly gangraped and charred to death by the men in the outskirts of Hyderabad on November 27. Her body was found on November 28.

Opinions have been divided over the encounter of the accused in the case. Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) chief Mayawati hailed the Hyderabad Police. She was among the first few political leaders to express her views on the encounter. 

''Crimes against women are on the rise in Uttar Pradesh, but the state government is sleeping. Police here and also in Delhi should take inspiration from Hyderabad Police, but unfortunately, here criminals are treated as state guests, there is jungle raj in UP right now," she said.

While the people across India are heaping praises for the Hyderabad Police, some of the political leaders have condemned the incident, stating that "one should not take law in one's hands."

Former MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan also praised the Hyderabad Police and so did Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat. 

Actress-turned-politican Jaya Bachchan, who earlier said in the Rajya Sabha that rapists should be brought out in public and lynched, said in Hindi, "Der aaye durust aaye."

Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik said that the accused should have been tried in court and punished accordingly. 

Uttar Pradesh's former governor Ram Naik said that the encounter should be investigated.