UP Police admits over 37 per cent of criminals killed in encounters in last 40 months were Muslims

The cat is out of the bag. The Uttar Pradesh Police has admitted that Muslims have been the biggest casualty in the encounters being carried out by the trigger-happy force on the name of eliminating criminals during the tenure of the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in the state as around 37 per cent criminals killed in encounters belong to minority community.

Facing opposition heat over deteriorating law and order situation in the state and alleged persecution of Brahmins by the Special Task Force (STF) of UP Police, also called ‘Singh Task Force’, the UP Police issued a statement saying that only 11 Brahmins with criminal background were killed. But in the process, it admitted that Muslims constituted a majority of those killed in encounters.

In a statement, UP Police said that during the last 42 months, around 124 criminals have been gunned down in encounters with police. Police disclosed that among criminals killed in encounters, 47 were Muslims, 11 Brahmins, eight Yadavs and 58 others, including some from upper castes (like Thakurs and Vaish), and the rest backwards and Dalits.

In 2017-18, during the first year of the Yogi Adityanath government, 45 persons were killed in police encounters, of which 16 were Muslims, as per the data. Most of these encounters took place in western UP districts of Shamli, Aligarh, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur.

There have been allegations against the government that it is biased against Muslims. Mohammed Aslam, professor of political science at Allahabad University, said that Muslims feel vulnerable when they are targeted by police in the present situation when hysteria is created around nationalism and Hindutva.

According to the report, the state police claimed that the Yogi Adityanath government was adopting zero tolerance policy against criminals and crime in general.

“The Yogi Adityanath government has never discriminated against criminals over caste or communal lines and will continue to do so in future,” a senior police official said.

From March 31, 2017 to August 9, 2020, 11 Brahmin criminals were gunned down in police encounters including two in Lucknow and one in Basti. The list also includes the name of Vikas Dubey and his associate Amar Dubey.

The government was forced to come out with a statement when not only the opposition but even ruling party lawmakers alleged that Brahmins were being harassed in the present regime. BJP MLA from Lambua in Sultanpur district Devmani Dwivedi had claimed that he will raise the question of killings of Brahmins in Yogi Raj in the coming monsoon session and issued a notice regarding this to the UP Assembly secretariat.

Dwivedi in his notice asked how many Brahmins were killed in three-and-half years of this BJP government and how many criminals were arrested. It also asks what action the BJP government took and whether it will give arms license to Brahmins as they are being threatened.

Political parties have been claiming that Brahmins are being persecuted during Yogi Raj. The allegations gathered momentum after the encounter of Vikas Dubey. Congress leader Jitin Prasad has even formed a ‘Brahmin Chetna Parishad’.