The Congress on Sunday expressed concern at extra-judicial killings, arguing that any tendency to violate the rule of law would give rise to anarchy in the country.

“The rule of law as laid down in our country’s Constitution is paramount. Criminals should be given the harshest punishment, but it should be under the law of the land,” party communications chief Jairam Ramesh said.

“Subverting or violating the rule of law and judicial process for any political purpose is dangerous for our democracy.”

His comments came against the backdrop of Uttar Pradesh police killing an absconding murder accused, Asad Ahmed, on Thursday in an alleged shootout in Jhansi that some political rivals have described as a “fake encounter”.

(Asad’s father Atiq Ahmed — former Samajwadi Party MP, alleged gangster and an accused in another murder case — was on Saturday night shot dead with his brother Ashraf by gunmen outside an Allahabad hospital while in police custody.)

Ramesh mentioned no names or incidents as he said: “Whoever does this, or gives protection to those who do such acts, should also be held responsible and the law should be strictly enforced (against) them. It should be our collective endeavour to ensure that the judicial system and rule of law is at all times honoured in letter and spirit.”

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge condemned some people’s tendency to celebrate extrajudicial killings, warning against the destruction of the constitutional order and the advent of mobocracy.

In a series of tweets, Kharge said: “The Constitution of India was made by the stalwarts of the freedom movement. The Constitution and the law have supreme importance. Nobody can be given permission to play with the Constitution and the rule of law.”

He added: “Only the judiciary has the right to punish a criminal. This right cannot be transferred to any government, any leader or a vigilante group. The advocates of ‘goli-tantra (rule of the gun) and bheed-tantra’ (rule of the mob) will end up destroying the Constitution.

“Anybody who interferes with the legal system with the intention of intimidating somebody deserves equal punishment. There are courts to determine the punishment for convicts. But if we play with the rule of law, anarchy will arise.”

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too said: “The law enshrined in the Constitution is supreme. Criminals must get punished but only according to the due process of law. Violating or interfering with the law and the judicial process with a political motive is not good for our democracy.

“Whoever does this, or gives protection to such elements, should also be held accountable. Such people should also be brought to book. We all should strive to strengthen the rule of law.”

Most of those celebrating Asad’s “encounter” death apear to be from the RSS-BJP ecosystem.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has publicly supported police “encounters” and the delivery of instant justice, and has been associated with the expression “thok do”.