Haryana : People have the right to ‘take the life’ of anyone they see harassing a woman or trying to kill, Haryana’s police chief has controversially said. At a public event on Thursday, KP Singh, the state’s new Director General of Police, said that people didn’t realise that under the law, they have the right to take a criminal’s life.
“If someone destroys your house, or tries to take someone’s life, the law allows a common man to kill the other person…this is something the common man doesn’t know. This is not just a policeman’s duty,” Singh said.
“If someone insults a woman or tries to kill a person, then the common man has right to take the criminal’s life.”
Singh labored the point that though “it is the job of the police to maintain law and order”, common citizens too have rights they are not aware of.
“A person has the right under the law to use necessary force… for the purpose of protecting one’s own body and property as also another’s body and property when immediate aid from the state machinery is not readily available,” said the top officer. A lawmaker of the state’s ruling BJP, Prem Lata Singh, was present on the stage when the police chief made the comments.
