Under Indian law, even those accused of serious crimes can only be punished by the courts. It is solely the judiciary that determines guilt, punishment, and imprisonment. Extrajudicial killings, often referred to as “encounters”, are illegal and constitute a criminal offence.
Despite this, producer C Kalyan triggered widespread outrage by publicly demanding that the police kill iBomma founder Immadi Ravi, who was recently arrested in a major anti-piracy crackdown. He went a step further, stating that if the police did not eliminate him in an encounter, the Telugu film industry should do it themselves.
Meanwhile, the investigation into Immadi Ravi has revealed the scale of his piracy network. Police said he had been operating from abroad while continuing to run his digital operation. Servers linked to iBomma were traced to Caribbean islands, and the first round of forensic examination uncovered a massive stash of 21,000 pirated movies on his platforms, ranging from new Telugu releases to old titles.
While Ravi’s activities are serious and must be dealt with strictly through legal channels, C Kalyan’s call for an extrajudicial killing has been slammed by legal experts and moviegoers alike. They assert that no matter how grave the offence, demanding an encounter is irresponsible, unlawful, and deeply reprehensible.
