New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it is inclined to appoint a judge to independently inquire the extra-judicial killing of four accused of the rape and murder of a veterinarian in Hyderabad.
The top court was hearing a petition seeking an independent probe into the killings on December 6.
It asked the state and others to propose name of a retired SC judge to conduct the encounter inquiry, which will be monitored by the apex court. The next hearing in the matter will take place on Thursday.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad A Bobde had agreed to list the petition, which was filed by advocate GS Mani. It claimed that the encounter was done deliberately to turn public attention away from the police's inability to prevent such crimes against women.
Mani has sought a CBI or a special investigation against Cyberbad Police Commissioner V.C. Sajjanar, who is a respondent in the petition.
On Tuesday, Sajjanar appeared before the seven-member National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) panel to present a comprehensive report on the police's version of the encounter.
A special NHRC team constituted to probe the case had inspected the encounter spot, the bodies of the four accused and spoken to their families. The team had reportedly also recorded the statements of the deceased rape victim's family.
Citing the rape and murder of the 27-year-old veterinarian and the killing of the accused in police encounter, former Chief Justice of India R M Lodha hon Tuesday said the country is struggling to protect human rights of citizens and such crimes reflect the "deep malice" that has crept in the society.
"Are we heading towards a society of lawlessness," Justice (retd) Lodha said, while lamenting that criminals are not afraid of committing heinous crimes such as rape and murder and "sadder" is the killing of the four accused in the police 'encounter'.
Meanwhile, the bodies of four accused, who were killed in an alleged exchange of fire with police on December 6, were on Tuesday shifted to the state-run Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad from the Mahabubnagar district.
The Telangana High Court on Monday directed authorities to preserve their bodies till December 13 and ordered that the bodies can be shifted to Gandhi Hospital if the government hospital at Mahabubnagar does not have the facility to preserve them till that date.
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