What would police do if rapists try to escape: Swati Maliwal on encounter of accused in T'gana rape case

In a major development, all the four accused in the recent gangrape and murder of a government veterinarian in Hyderabad were killed in a police encounter at Shadnagar in the wee hours of Friday. Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Swati Maliwal said 'what will the police do if rapists try to escape from custody'.

New Delhi: After all four accused in the rape and murder of a woman veterinarian in Telangana were killed in an encounter, Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Swati Maliwal said 'what will the police do if rapists try to escape from custody'.

"What will the police do if rapists try to escape. That is exactly why we are requesting the Centre to create a strong system in the country so that rapists who are committing such heinous crimes need to be given death penalty after all kinds of court procedures," Maliwal said.

She said if the system is not strong then the police of this country will "repeat these kinds of incidents much more".

"At least these men will no longer be living on taxpayers' money the way Nirbhaya convicts have been doing for the past seven years," she said.

Speaking about her hunger strike against rape incidents in the country, she said: "The hunger strike has entered 4th day and will continue until the Centre meets the demand to create a strong system of deterrence punishment to rapists in this country."

All four accused in the rape and murder of the veterinarian in Telangana were killed in an encounter with the police when the accused tried to escape while being taken to the crime spot, police said on Friday morning.

Senior police officials have arrived at the site of the encounter. The doctor was brutally gang-raped and killed by four persons before they burnt her body in Shamshabad area on November 27. The four accused were in judicial custody at Cherlapally Central Jail in Hyderabad.