Encounter Killings Will Not Make Women Safer From Sexual Violence

The Telangana police declared that 'the law has done its duty', referring to the alleged 'encounter' of 4 persons suspected of raping and murdering a veterinarian in Hyderabad. Police officials of several other states have glorified and endorsed the Telangana police's actions. The Telangana police's account provides no explanation for why the suspects were taken out without handcuffs at 3 am, or how 4 unarmed men overpowered 10 armed police persons This is prima facie a case of prison murder.

Extensive condonation of the use of violence in the name of women's safety is a distraction from finding real and just solutions to ending violence against women. Most recently, the reports of a rape victim being set ablaze by her culprits in broad daylight in Unnao show us that the police have failed to protect victims while they are still alive. The rape victim submitted to her injuries on Friday night. Police 'encounters' shift the focus away from the systemic failure of institutions in discharging their duties effectively. In the present case, there is no way to even know whether the suspects were the culprits of the crime, or victims used by the police to assuage public anger.

The constitutional duty of the police is to prevent crimes and investigate them, and it is these roles that it must perform in accord with the law and the constitution. What is the legality of encounters? The description of the custodial killings as 'encounters' is a thinly veiled attempt by the Telangana police to claim legitimacy for their boldly illegal acts. Under the law, such deaths amount to the commission of the offense of murder, unless they fall in the exception of self-defense.

There is no exception wholly available to police. The justification of encounters as a genuine response to the maintenance of law and order is antithetical to the rule of law. The SC has considered such abuse of power by the police to be 'state-sponsored terrorism' and has issued detailed guidelines on the investigation of such police encounters.

For instance, in D.K. Basu vs State of West Bengal, the SC observed that: 'If the functionaries of the government become lawbreakers, it is bound to breed contempt for law and would encourage lawlessness and every man would tend to become a law unto himself, leading to chaos. No civilized nation can permit that to happen.' These custodial murders are not the only instance of abuse of power by the State police.

Reports suggest that this appears to be a rehearsed pattern. In 2008, 3 men, accused of throwing acid on two 20-year-old women in Warangal, AP, were killed in an 'encounter' with a team led by the same police officer as in the present case.

In the Hyderabad, the family of the victim ran from pillar to post to get the missing person's complaint registered, to be met with delay and statements of victim-blaming by the police. In the KuldeepSengar-Unnao rape case, the police have been instrumental in silencing the victim and shielding the BJP MLA who is accused of serious acts of gang rape. It is sobering to remember that the victim's father was beaten to death in police custody. Similarly, the rape victim in the Chinmayanand case was arrested on charges of extortion after her allegations against the powerful BJP leader became public.