Hyderabad incident is wake-up call: Nikam

The `encounter' of four accused persons in Hyderabad is a wake-up call as it shows people are losing their faith in the rule of law, well-known public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said on Friday. Four men, arrested for the rape and murder of a 25- year-old woman veterinarian in Hyderabad last month, were killed in an `exchange of fire' with a police team on Friday morning.

Nikam, who represented the government in cases such as the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts and the 2008 terror attack, said the government and the judiciary should take immediate steps to restore people's faith in the legal system. "People in general are losing their faith in the rule of law. This is a potential danger to society because our country is based on the rule of law," he said.

If common people believed that the police are going to deliver justice, it may instigate others to "do justice in a similar manner" and the whole legal system will collapse and it will lead to anarchy, Nikam said. "It for the government and the judiciary to take immediate measures so that common man's faith in the rule of law is maintained at any cost," he added.

Satish Maneshinde, a renowned criminal defence lawyer, said, "This is a pattern in India that when cops are faced with incidents like rape and murder and other heinous crimes, there is lot of pressure from society to get some results. "So, it appears that cops are also trigger-happy, but then the recognition it got from entire society is quite alarming, because people have also lost faith in the criminal justice system," he added..