Some events become inflexion points which force humanity to introspect and begin course-correcting its failures. The unfortunate case of Nirbhaya shocked the nation and forced the citizens to raise their voices for speedy Justice and stringent laws to create deterrence. But unfortunately, the vicious cycle of atrocities against women didn’t stop there. In 2019 the nation was stunned again when a young talented veterinarian became prey to such atrocities in Hyderabad. The demands for on-the-spot justice and police encounter for the culprits were echoing everywhere. These demands had seemed to reach the Police and the accused were killed in an encounter.
Hyderabad Encounter and the SC Commission report
The Hyderabad Encounter case is back in the news as the Supreme Court-appointed inquiry commission has submitted its report. The report claims that the version of the report given by the Police is unbelievable and concocted. It claims that the accused were “deliberately fired upon by the police with an intent to cause their death”. The commission also discarded the Police claims and termed it a Fake encounter. The Commission was headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice VS Sirpurkar. The other members in it were former Bombay HC judge Justice Rekha Baldota and former CBI Director Karthikeyan.
The commission also recommended framing charges against all the 10 police officers involved in the encounter. After this, the Police officers may be booked under various sections including Section 302 (for Murder). The Panel observed, “Just as Mob Lynching is unacceptable, so is any idea of instant justice. At any point of time the Rule of Law must prevail. Punishment for crime has to be only by the procedure established by law”. The Supreme Court rejected the Telangana government’s demand to keep the report confidential and allowed the report to be made public.
Read More: Hyderabad encounter is not his first one, top cop Sajjanar led a similar encounter in 2008
On-the-spot Justice/Encounter or Invitation to anarchy and Police Autocracy
Every society deals with crimes against Women with the utmost seriousness. The perpetrators of these heinous crimes are looked at with hatred, pity and feelings of vengeance. Many, on hearing or learning about this are inclined towards on-the-spot Justice/police encounters. Moreover, with every passing day of the long legal process, women have to go through the same or even worse mental trauma and many times face victim shaming.
But with no legal checks and balances, proper scrutiny and a real attempt at finding the culprits, society may get pushed towards a cycle of vengeance spree. Furthermore, to save themselves from the aftermath, Police often prop up innocents as criminals and kill them in fake encounters in the name of on-the-spot Justice or Encounter. Because of this, the Encounter Justice system is very dangerous for the society in the long run as it may lead to Police autocracy, discarding law and order, and killing innocents at their whims and fancies in any unrelated cases.
While the whole nation, dejected from the slow legal system, appreciated the encounter done by the Police and lauded them for erasing a few monsters from the face of the Earth, the legal aspect of it was always questioned. Now, with the Supreme Court commission giving its report, the case has again started a debate about the slowness of the legal process and resultant menace of on-the-spot Justice/Encounters