Questions over ‘instant justice’; Scripting encounter

Instant justice ? No one answer here, for there are distinct schools of thought that have emerged following the ‘encounter deaths’ of the four accused in the heinous rape and murder of a Vet doctor on November 27 night near Hyderabad in Telengana. It was on November 28 that the half burnt mortal remains of the young lady was found, set on fire after being raped and still not very clear whether she was burnt after her death or while she was still alive or even half alive. It was on November 29 that the four accused were arrested and it was on December 2 that the Court remanded the four accused to police remand for 10 days. Obviously the 10 days remand was too long for the four accused or for the cops for it was in the wee hours of December 6 that news of the accused being gunned down in an alleged encounter hit the news and quickly became the most read and talked about incident for the day. For once the Citizenship Amendment Bill was pushed to the backseat, such was the sense of outrage and angst kicked up by the brutal rape and murder of the young lady in question here. Perhaps it was due to the wide media coverage and the sense of outrage that followed, but the police responded promptly and just one day after the charred body of the young lady was recovered, the four suspects were picked up on November 29. On December 2, they were sent to judicial custody and early in the morning of December 6, they were killed in an ‘encounter’ with the cops, not far from where the lifeless body of the young lady was recovered.
The news of the ‘encounter’ went viral on the social media in no time and everyone seemed to have an opinion on the ‘encounter’ theory floated by the police. While some applauded the ‘precise encounter’ and acknowledged the action of the police, some others refused to buy the story and outrightly rejected the encounter story. Human rights, bad precedent, staged encounter, were some terms used to disagree with the theory of the police, while on the other hand a number of people lined up to express their gratitude to the cops for freeing the country of some sadistic perverts, who took pleasure in ravishing and killing a young lady. Rule of law on the one hand and a sense of instant justice being delivered on the other. The debate will continue, this is for sure, but remember the convicts in the rape and murder of Nirbhaya back in 2012 are still alive and kicking. The Unnao rape victim was just recently set on fire while she was on her way to the Court  by the accused and his henchmen just as the country was coming to grips with the brutal rape and murder of the Vet doctor. Even as the rape of the Hyderabad girl shocked the sensibilities of India, came the news that a 17 year old girl was raped and blackmailed for 3 months in Odisha. The encounter deaths of the four suspects in the rape and murder of the Vet doctor need to be seen against the backdrop of the realities just quoted above.