Criminals beat up police in Yogi Adityanath’s Encounter Pradesh

A series of questionable ‘encounters’ of alleged criminals in Uttar Pradesh ostensibly to instill the fear of khaki among criminals seems to have failed. In the past 24 hours alone, criminals have thrashed men in uniform in Chandauli (Eastern UP), Rae Bareli (Central UP) and Muzaffarnagar (Western UP).

Such incidents being reported across the state at regular intervals are driving a big hole in claims of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath that criminals are scared of police in Uttar Pradesh. Underscoring this is the fact in all these cases, it was people, and not police, who subsequently caught the criminals and handed them over to the law.

In a daring act, criminals opened fire on a sub-inspector in Chandauli. SI Santosh Kumar, posted as in-charge of the Launda Police Outpost, was patrolling at night along with constables Rajendra Yadav and Pankaj Verma. Near Barahauli, Kumar asked both the constables to take a round of the village. As the two constables left, three motorcycle-borne men arrived. Suspecting them to be criminals, Kumar asked them to show the papers of their vehicles. However, one of them allegedly whipped out a pistol and fired at the sub-inspector, injuring him critically.

Some villagers who rushed to the spot after hearing the gunshot found the sub-inspector lying in a pool of blood. They nabbed two miscreants and shifted the injured cop to hospital, from where he was referred to medical college hospital in Varanasi. In the meantime, Superintendent of Police Santosh Kumar Singh reached the spot along with a heavy police force. The villagers handed over both the miscreants to the police.

In another incident reported from Rae Bareli, SI Rekha Dubey, posted in Kotwali Police Station, went to complete a 'panchnama' at a district hospital. She found some people there involved in fisticuffs. When she tried to intervene, one of them attacked her and beat her up. People present intervened and rescued the lady sub-inspector. Others caught hold of the person who attacked the SI and handed him over to police.

In Muzaffarnagar, a constable was beaten up with lathis when he objected to drinking by a group of people near the police outpost in Ukawali village. Constable Deepak Kumar was alone at the outpost when he saw some people drinking liquor nearby. He asked them to move away. There were some exchange of words and later the youth came with lathis and beat up the constable.

Villagers reached there hearing the screams of the constable and rescued him. They nabbed four of the attackers and handed them over to the police.