Public outrage is like a tidal wave. It subsidises as fast as it rises. In Disha’s rape and murder case too, it has cooled off after the four suspects had been gunned down. Now the time of reckoning has arrived. The truth has to come out in both the cases -- the unfortunate end of Disha and the death of the four suspects in the case.
The difficulty is neither Disha nor the accused are alive. The only point that is clear is that Disha had been set on fire and her charred body was found underneath a bridge at Chatanpally in Shadnagar mandal in Rangareddy district on November 28. Till now there were doubts whether the body was that of Disha or not, but the DNA test had clinched it.
It has now become amply clear that the purpose of the SIT, constituted in the wake of the gunning down of the four accused at Chatanpally on December 6, was mainly to prosecute the dead persons for snatching fire arms from the police and trying to attack them in an attempt to flee.
The FIR that was registered after the death of the four accused in the “encounter” was against them and the purpose of the investigation was to establish the deadmen’s guilt in trying to attack the policemen. This, in essence, was the response from the police to the “encounter”.
In its order on Thursday, the Supreme Court said that it was “rather odd,” as it was obvious that no prosecution could be contemplated against the dead persons who can neither be tried nor convicted.
The Supreme Court, in the order, also made a mention that the SIT was constituted to investigate the offences mentioned in the FIR against the four accused, though one of the clauses stated that the SIT would also investigate the cause of the death of the four suspects.
Nothing is certain
Interestingly, the counsel for the State government had argued that there was no need to prosecute the policemen and maintained that the FIR had been filed only against the suspects for trying to kill police personnel and the trial court will take a call on whether the encounter was fake or genuine.
As far as other aspects of the cases are concerned, nothing is clear and certain. It is the police say-so that the quartet was responsible for the rape and murder. The four accused did not say a word whether they did it or not.
It is the police who said it was they who resorted to the commission of the crime. How did they die? Again there is no way of knowing. There is only the version of the police that they opened fire in self-defence. It is for you to take it or leave it.
The apex court has ordered a judicial inquiry as, unlike the people, courts will not act in a fit of emotion. The apex court said that no one knows what happened on the day of the encounter and that inquiry against the police personnel who opened fire had to be conducted to get to the bottom of the truth.
“We are not saying that the police personnel are guilty. We do not know anything and we are also not drawing any conclusions,” the Supreme Court said. As far as the encounter is concerned, the SC has shown the right path for the investigation to follow but there is no one to vouch for the police version that the four, killed in the encounter, were actually the ones who raped and killed the veterinary doctor. No one knows about what role each one had in the perpetration of the crime.
Had they been alive and proper investigation and trial been conducted, the truth would have come out. There is no way of knowing if they were like Satyam Babu in the murder of 19-year-old pharmacy student Ayesha Meera in Vijayawada in December, 2007 who was acquitted of all charges in March, 2017 and was released. At least he was dumped in jail unlike the four in Disha’s case.