NEW DELHI: Former Delhi Police commissioner Neeraj Kumar, who handled the Nirbhaya gangrape-and-murder case, on Friday said the thought of killing the accused never crossed his mind.
Kumar recalled that it was a “tough time” when the Nirbhaya case was reported in December 2012 since “the policemen were treated as rapists”.
Nirbhaya was gangraped on December 16, 2012. She later succumbed to injuries. The brutality of the incident had rocked the nation.
“There was a lot of pressure at that time, but the thought of killing them never came. We were getting messages, asking us to throw the accused in front of hungry lions. Someone said castrate them in public, someone said lynch them, but we just stuck to our guns. There was no question of doing anything illegal,” Kumar told a news agency.
Kumar said encounters took place during his tenure as well and the one at Ansal Plaza, in which two suspected LeT militants were gunned down inside the crowded mall, faced questions.
“After every encounter, there are always questions and this (Hyderabad) was not an encounter with terrorists. It was in a case which has been under public scrutiny. We have to wait for the inquiry findings to know whether the encounter was justified or not,” he said.
