VIJAYAWADA/TIRUPATI/VISAKHAPATNAM: People cutting across community and gender lines in Andhra Pradesh welcomed the ‘encounter’ of the four accused in Disha rape and murder case. While Siddhartha Mahila Kalashala students celebrated the occasion by beating drums and bursting firecrackers, students of Padmavati Mahila Visvavidyalamam in Tirupati, performed palabhishekam to Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and Cyberabad Commissioner of Police VC Sajjanar.
Political leaders of ruling and opposition parties also welcomed the development.
No sooner than the news circulated that the accused were killed in an ‘encounter’, girl students and faculty of Siddhartha Mahila Kalashalam rushed out to celebrate unable to contain themselves.
Students of Abhuydaya College in Guntur distributed sweets and burst firecrackers, while women and children in Visakahapatnam took out a rally. The students of SVR Degree College of Macherla in Guntur district took out a rally supporting the Telangana police action. However, several said encounter is not the solution. Efforts should be made to ensure crime against women is prevented.
Reacting on the incident, Home Minister Mekathoti Sucharitha said the law takes its own course. “When the accused tried to escape from the police during the scene recreation time, they were killed in an encounter. The police did their work,” she said.
Agriculture Minister K Kannababu described it as a people’s verdict. He said there are laws to deal with such offenders and they have to be implemented effectively. YSRC leaders and MLAs said the incident has increased people’s faith on the police.
TDP senior leader Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy said the ‘encounter’ of the accused was correct. “Such people have no right to live in society. Their encounter was the right decision,” he said.
Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan said the episode is a warning that existing laws are not enough to protect women and girls.
“Laws should be so strict people should fear before having bad thoughts about women. The courts should serve instant justice and all punishments should be carried out publicly,” he added.
BJP State president Kanna Lakshminarayan said now Disha’s soul will rest in peace. Another BJP leader S Vishnuvardhan Reddy said Telangana police have proved how justice is served. “I commend them. Such incidents should never occur again,” he said.
‘Ayesha would have got justice if Sajjanar probed’
Expressing her joy, Ayesha Meera’s mother Shamshad Begum said the accused getting killed in an encounter is natural justice. Saluting Sajjanar, she said Disha’s parents have at last got the justice they deserved. “If police officers like him had probed Ayesha’s case, she would have got justice,” she said wistfully.