Hyderabad rape / NHRC team in Hyderabad, to visit site where accused were killed in encounter

A team from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) reached Hyderabad on Saturday, a day after four men accused of raping and murdering the 26-year-old veterinary doctor were killed in an encounter by Telangana police.

The NHRC team will visit the site where Mohammad Ali alias Mohammad Arif, Jollu Shiva, Jollu Naveen Kumar and Chintakunta Chenna Keshavulu were shot dead by police on the Bengaluru-Hyderabad national highway near Chattanpalli village at Shadnagar.

Hyderabad Police said they shot the accused at the crime spot, where they had been taken for reconstruction of events and recovery of evidence, after they snatched the weapons of the personnel and tried to escape.

The members of the human rights watchdog will also go to Mahbubnagar Government Hospital where the bodies of the four men have been kept.

Telangana High Court has ordered that the autopsy of the killed men is recorded on video and submitted to the court by Saturday evening.

It had stayed the funeral of the four accused and ordered the bodies be preserved till Monday evening, the day it will hear a public interest litigation questioning the legality of the encounter in detail.

The team arrived in Hyderabad a day after the commission took a suo motu cognisance of the encounter and said it needed to be probed very carefully.

“The commission is of the opinion that this matter is required to be probed very carefully. Accordingly, it has asked its Director General (Investigation) to immediately send a team for a fact finding on the spot investigation into the matter,” it had said in a statement.

Their killing was widely celebrated across the country but also led to several human rights organisations raising questions.

It also triggered differing voices within the political circle, with one section expressing concern over the incident and another celebrating the police action.

The men, all in their twenties, were arrested on November 29 for allegedly raping and murdering a woman on the outskirts of Hyderabad two days earlier.

The incident comes in the wake of protests across the country over crimes against women, with many demanding stringent laws and a more effective judicial process to ensure safety for women.