Kolkata, Oct. 27 -- With Bengal witnessing two encounters within a span of 12 hours, following the earlier Baruipur incident, Opposition leaders raised concerns over the legality of such extrajudicial killings as the state continued to defend police action.
Senior MAITC MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay questioned the justification for encounters, stressing that the country has a legal system. "An encounter may bring publicity, but there is a law in this country," he said, recalling the state government's initiative under Mamata Banerjee to amend the law to ensure swift punishment in rape cases.
MAITC MLA Kunal Ghosh said those accused of rape and murder deserved no sympathy but insisted that punishment must follow due legal process. Calling for speedy chargesheets and capital punishment for the guilty, he questioned why crime-scene reconstructions repeatedly took place at night and why no video footage was available. He also warned that encounters outside the law could set a dangerous precedent.
CPI(M) state secretary Mohammed Salim termed the Gaighata encounter a staged one, alleging that the rule of law had deteriorated in the state. Another Left leader Sujan Chakraborty questioned how accused persons could repeatedly attempt to snatch firearms from police personnel.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said he was not defending the accused but questioned whether guilt should be determined by the police or the courts.
He argued that extrajudicial killings were no solution to rising crime and questioned whether people were losing faith in the judiciary.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.