Common man has the right to kill a criminal when threatened: Haryana DGP

In a controversial statement that almost encourages vigilantism, KP Singh, Haryana director-general of police (DGP), said that the common man has the right to kill a criminal when threatened."If someone insults a woman or tries to kill a person, then the law empowers a common man to kill that person. These are not just the powers vested in the police. If someone is insulting any mother or sister, if somebody tries to immolate a house or shop, or if someone tries to kill a person in front of you, then a common man has been empowered by the law to kill that person," ANI quoted him as saying."The police is already there, but you need to understand your role as a common man," he also said. A News18 report also said that the DGP claimed that many people do not know that the law actually allows killing a person in self-defence and said that such an act is not illegal.The DGP's controversial statement comes just a few days after four members of a family were killed and another injured in a clash between two groups at Utavad village on Wednesday where a man, suspected to be a suspended Haryana police personnel, allegedly opened fire.The incident had taken place on Wednesday afternoon when someone from one group passed some "objectionable" remarks on a woman from the rival group, superintendent of police, Palwal, Rajesh Duggal had said.He had said the two groups entered into a heated exchange.The eyewitnesses and the kin of the deceased had told the police that a suspended Haryana policeman allegedly opened fire during the heated exchanges in which four persons died, he had said.The SP, however, had said that the police is yet to confirm if the accused was a Haryana policeman.With inputs from agencies