New Delhi: The police cannot act like a lynch mob under any circumstances several rights activists said after four people accused in the rape and murder of a woman veterinarian were killed near Hyderabad in the early hours of Friday.
The encounter is an attempt by authorities to distract people from the government’s failures to safeguard women’s rights, the activists informed.
According to Kavita Krishnan, secretary of the All India Progressive Women’s Association, this is not justice but a ‘ploy’ to shut down demands for accountability from the police, judiciary, governments, and justice and dignity for women.
“Instead of being accountable to his job and answering our questions about his government’s failures to safeguard women’s rights, the Telangana CM and his police have acted as leaders of a lynch mob,” stated Krishnan.
The activist described the incident as the admittance of utter incompetence and failure of criminality on the part of the entire political and police system and accused Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao of deflecting the ‘whole issue’.
“We are asking tough questions to the police and to the government. In order to avoid answering these questions it is an attempt to say justice has been done,” asserted Krishnan. She also stated that police personnel responsible for the act must be arrested and prosecuted if proved guilty.
Annie Raja, general secretary of the National Federation of Indian Woman (NFIW), called for a high-level inquiry.
“Why in spite of having all legislations in place in the country are governments failing to implement it. Definitely it was a distraction. It was an attempt to divert attention from the issue. A high level inquiry is needed in the matter is needed,” said Raja.
Lawyer and rights activist Vrinda Grover termed the incident ‘absolutely unacceptable’.
Asking people to say ‘no to trigger track injustice’, she said, “… so all that the state will do in the name of ensuring that women live as equal and free citizens is to add to its arsenal of unlimited, arbitrary violence.”
Human rights activist Shabnam Hashmi, founding member of ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy), agreed that it might be an attempt by the government to distract people.
“They (BJP) believe in this kind of politics and they are adding to the violence to public discourse and forcing people to a situation where chaos prevails in society… because when people start asking for lynching on the streets and killing people with stones or killing them in fake encounters, it is a very serious situation in society and it has to be strongly condemned,” said Hashmi.
“Every day they want to create a situation where you forget what is happening and it is not only protest around rape but also all other protest like Kashmir, NRC, Ayodhya judgement, so that people don’t ask about failure on economic front,” added Hashmi.
Agencies