To look into accusations that the four rape-murder suspects were gunned down to assuage public anger, an Indian rights group has launched an investigation yesterday, December 08.
The National Human Rights Commission probing the shooting said, it was concerned that the killings would “send a wrong message to society”.
“If the arrested persons were actually guilty, they were to be punished as per law pursuant to the directions of the competent court,” the group said in a statement.
The police said they shot the four suspects, who had been in custody for a week, early on Friday after they snatched officers’ guns during a re-enactment at the crime scene organised by detectives.
Their deaths prompted celebrations, with hundreds heading to the scene and showering police officers with flower petals, while politicians, celebrities and sports stars congratulated them on social media.
Yesterday morning, the police were still at the scene outside Hyderabad, in southern India, as motorists stopped their cars on the busy highway to look and take photos with their phones.
Others have expressed horror, however, with one Supreme Court lawyer calling it “murder in cold blood” and Amnesty International saying the “alleged extrajudicial execution” should be investigated.
Late on Friday, the High Court in the southern state of Telangana, where the incident happened, ordered to preserve the bodies until today evening and have the autopsies filmed.
The four men had, the police said, confessed during interrogation to gang-raping and murdering a 27-year-old vet before setting fire to her body under a bridge on November 27.
After the four men were killed on Friday, the pregnant 17-year-old wife of one of them told Indian media: “Take me to the same place and kill me too.” But the murdered woman’s father said “justice was done”. (Source: The Straits Times)