In Yogi raj, are these encounters or murders in cold blood?

The Yogi Adityanath government has now authorised the Director General of Police to declare an award of ₹2.5 lakh and the district police chief to declare one of ₹25,000 for killing a wanted criminal. This has raised many eyebrows as to whether the government has announced a bounty to kill people in the name of controlling crime. On Saturday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath even told a private news channel, “Goliyon ka jawab goliyon se denge (We will counter bullets with bullets.)”

Such suspicion is not unfounded considering police claims of having conducted 420 encounters in the last six months, killing 15 criminals who were carrying awards on their heads. The police have arrested 1106 criminals and 84 criminals have been injured in gun battles with police. The state government claims that 86 policemen too have suffered gun shot wounds.

One sub-inspector, Jai Prakash Singh, died in one of these encounters with a gang of ‘dacoits’ in Chitrakoot.

The statistics, on the face of it, provides a good reading and shows the resolve of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to control crime in Uttar Pradesh. Senior police officers like HR Sharma defend the police’s action, saying such efforts are necessary to control crime. ADG (Law and Order) Anand Kumar said that police was targeting only those who were creating problems for the society. “We ask them (criminals) to surrender and if they open fire, the police retaliates,” he said adding that in these gun battles, many cops have been injured and that one policeman died.

However, the police’s justification cannot stand close scrutiny. Majority of the encounters where a criminal has been killed show a particular modus operandi. A criminal is arrested but somehow he escapes from police custody. After a few days, police somehow come to know about him and kills him in an encounter. However, the accomplices of the dreaded criminal always manage to escape.

Sample this:

• On September 11, Saharanpur Police claimed to have gunned down wanted criminal Shamshad in an encounter. Three days before this encounter, Shamshad had escaped from police custody in the Gagalhedi area. The SSP announced an award of ₹12,000 after his escape. Reports say Shamshad suffered bullet injuries during an encounter with SWAT. One of his aides managed to escape. The police claimed that Shamshad had threatened local doctor Piyush Sanawar of Saharanpur and demanded ₹15 lakh as protection money on last Saturday.
• On Sept 1, Sunil Sharma, who was carrying an award of ₹15,000 on his head and had fled from police custody, was killed in an encounter in Gomti Nagar in Lucknow. Police said that Sunil was injured in the encounter in Gomti Nagar and died in the hospital. Sharma, who was lodged in Hardoi jail, had fled from police custody from Lucknow where he was bought for a hearing.
• On August 18, Azamgarh Police claimed to have gunned down Sujeet Singh aka Budhwa, carrying a cash reward of ₹50,000 during an encounter. Five policemen were also injured. Police said that Budhwa escaped from police custody while being taken back to Rampur district after being produced in a Mau court in connection with a loot on August 11. In this encounter, the aides of Budhwa escaped.
• On August 25, sub-inspector JP Singh was killed while Station Officer of Bahelpura Virenda Tripathi was injured in an encounter with brigand Babli Kol and his men in the jungles of Nihi Chiraiya in Manikpur police station area of Chitrakoot. On September 4, the STF of UP police killed a dreaded dacoit by the name of Sharda Kol. The slain brigand carried a reward of ₹12,000 and was prime accused in the killing of the sub-inspector.

Human Rights activists do not agree with this course of action at all. Lenin Raghuvanshi of People’s Vigilance Committee of Human Rights (PVCHR) says that such encounters damage the rule of law and subverts the criminal justice system. “This also leads to politicisation of criminals, as fearing police action, they often join the ruling party. They then continue their criminal activities under the patronage of local leaders,” he said.