Delhi police commissioner BS Bassi said that the police was nowadays “committed to human rights” but bemoaned that the 1960s and 1970s were a bygone era in which criminals still feared the police, reported the New Indian Express.

“They [rapists and criminals] were brutally beaten up by the force in public but now it cannot be done as we are committed to human rights. Things have changed, but police is always worried about women’s safety,” he said.

Bassi reportedly added, according to IANS: “If the constitution permits shooting, if it permits hanging on the spot, Delhi Police will not refrain from doing so to people who indulge in heinous crimes against women. But we are committed to human rights.”

The New Indian Express reported that he said: “We will not refrain to shoot the accused in cases of crime against women if the Constitution permits us. We will not hesitate to shoot the accused [rapist] on the spot in front of the public if the Constitution gives permission to us.”

“Rapists are sick people,” he said. “There are some 150-200 males who see a woman only as they see them in a porn movie. That’s why they see even a two-month-old baby or an 80-year-old woman as targets.”

Rapists did not see “women as someone’s sister or mother or wife”, Bassi said.

International NGO, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), commented in a statement:

"It is disturbing that the leadership of one of the largest police forces in the world appears to endorse tactics akin to extra-judicial killings that by-pass due process.”

“Innocence until proven guilty continues to be a cardinal legal principle of our law that clearly demarcates the functions of the police and judiciary.”

“Nowhere is it the function of the police to judge and punish, but only to bring suspects fairly before the courts. The Delhi Police’s own motto ‘Shanti, Nyay and Seva’ meaning Peace, Justice and Service reminds the force of this duty.”