Four accused in Hyderabad vet rape and murder killed in police encounter

All four accused in the gang rape and murder of a Hyderabad veterinarian were killed in a police encounter, ANI reported. The circumstances of the encounter are not immediately clear. The story will be updated when more details emerge. 

The charred body of the woman, working as an assistant veterinarian at a state-run hospital, was found under a culvert in Shadnagar on Thursday morning a day after she went missing. Reports later claimed that the woman was subjected to gang rape before murder, and the police identified four suspects related to the case. The four men, all lorry workers aged between 20 and 26, were booked under Sections 376D (gangrape), 302 (murder),201 (destroying evidence) of the Indian Penal Code. The Telangana government, under massive pressure, had approved a fast-track court to try the case. 

A district bar association in Telangana announced their decision not to represent the four accused. Mattapally Srinivas, president of the Ranga Reddy Bar Association, said they had taken the decision as "a moral and social responsibility against the heinous crime committed by the accused." We have decided not to offer any legal services to the accused. In such cases, the court may direct the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to appoint a lawyer for them. When the Authority directs any advocate to represent the accused we cannot refuse it, he told PTI. Srinivas further said that some of the sections under which the four were booked by police may carry the death sentence, considering the gravity of the case.

Protests were held at several places, with an angry crowd hurling stones at the police personnel, who escorted the four accused to jail from a police station in the Telangana capital, and demanding that the culprits be handed over to them. Some of the protesters demanded death penalty for the accused. "It is not enough if they are taken to court. They should be handed out the same treatment that they gave to the victim," a protester said. "If you cannot do it, hand them over to us," another said.