Disha Encounter Killings: Justice can't be instant: CJI

Jodhpur: Chief Justice of India SA Bobde on Saturday condemned the practice of extra-judicial killings, saying that justice loses its very character when it takes the form of revenge. The observation, made at an event in Jodhpur, comes amid a raging debate over the killing of four accused in Disha rape and murder case of Telangana.

"I don't think justice can ever be or ought to be instant. And justice must never ever take the form of revenge. I believe justice loses its character of justice if it becomes revenge," Chief Justice Bobde, who took over as the Chief Justice of India last month, said in his address at the inauguration of a new Rajasthan High Court building.

Justice Bobde said recent events in the country had sparked off an old debate with new vigour, where there was no doubt that the criminal justice system must reconsider its position and attitude towards the time it took to dispose of a criminal matter.

"There is a need in the judiciary to invoke self-correcting measures but whether or not they should be publicised is a matter of debate," he said.

"We have to devise methods for not only speeding up litigation but all together preventing it. There are laws which provide for pre-litigation mediation," he said, adding that there was a need to consider compulsory pre-litigation mediation.

Describing last year's press conference by four senior most judges of the apex court as a self-corrective measure, Bobde said, "I believe the institution (judiciary) must correct itself and indeed it did during the time when the much-criticised press conference was held. It was nothing more than a self-corrective measure and I do not wish to justify it."

The Cyberabad police on Friday said the accused, lorry workers aged between 20 and 26, were killed during an exchange of fire that took place between 5.45 am and 6.15 am when they were taken by a 10-member team to the scene of the crime at Chatanpalli, 50 km near Hyderabad, from an undisclosed location for a reconstruction of events as part of the investigation.

Prime accused Mohammed Arif (26), Chennakeshavulu, Jollu Shiva and Jollu Navin (all 20 years) were not handcuffed at the time of the incident, the police said.