The police firing that left the 21-year-old man allegedly involved in last week’s chainsaw attack at a school in Andhra Pradesh has brought the question of extrajudicial justice in cases involving crimes against women back into focus in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. From the 2008 Warangal acid attack case to the 2019 Hyderabad rape-murder case, police encounters in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have repeatedly drawn public celebrations, even as questions over due process have persisted.On Tuesday, the 21-year-old, who was arrested for allegedly forcing his way into a school in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, and attacking a student with a chainsaw, had his leg amputated at a hospital after it developed gangrene. But this isn’t the first such case of extrajudicial “justice” in the state – Andhra Pradesh has seen at least two such instances in the last 18 years.In the early hours of December 6, 2019, eight days after Cyberabad Police arrested four people for the rape and murder of a veterinary doctor on November 27, they were shot dead in an alleged encounter. Police said the four accused — Mohammed Arif, J Naveen, J Shiva and C Chennakeshavulu — were taken to recreate the crime scene at an under-construction bridge at Chattapally on the outskirts of Hyderabad when they attacked the police team and were shot dead in self-defence.Read | Andhra teen told family she will be home soon. Hours later, a horrifying call from schoolAs news of the encounter spread, thousands of people gathered on the flyover on the Hyderabad-Bengaluru highway, overlooking the encounter site, to shower flower petals on the police officials below. But the encounter triggered a backlash, with the Supreme Court ordering an independent probe. In its report submitted to the Supreme Court in May 2022, the Justice V S Sirpurkar Commission, which probed the allegations, said it found that the accused were deliberately fired upon with the intention of causing their deaths and recommended action against 10 police officers who accompanied the four suspects to the crime scene. It also dismissed the police version that its team had been attacked.The alleged police action on December 13, 2008, when Warangal Police in the then undivided Andhra Pradesh shot dead three people accused of throwing acid on two engineering college students in Warangal on December 10 that year, met with a similar public reaction. S Srinivas, an engineering dropout, was arrested by Warangal district police, along with his two friends, B Sanjay and P Hari Krishna, after they allegedly threw acid on the student he was stalking. The student was with a friend at the time of the attack, and both women died later.The incident drew massive public outrage and questions about women’s safety. Warangal Police, meanwhile, claimed that the three accused were shot dead as they tried to attack the police with a country-made revolver and knives and escape. Police said the incident occurred when the suspects were taken to a wooded area where they had allegedly hidden the motorcycle used in the attack.The deaths of the three suspects led to celebrations, with political leaders cutting across party lines calling it swift action. But amid the firecrackers and sweets, there were also allegations that the encounter was staged. Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, then the state’s chief minister, dismissed the allegations and defended the police action.Story continues below this adSimilar reactions were seen after the school attack last Saturday. The incident was widely condemned and prompted calls for swift justice. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu condemned the incident.“I am deeply shaken and enraged by the barbaric attack on a Class 10 student inside her classroom at the school. Attackers who target our young girls inside schools have no place in our society. I am personally tracking her recovery and have directed the medical team to give her the highest priority care. I have ordered police to hunt down the monster responsible and deliver the harshest legal punishment swiftly,” he said in a statement.