NHRC objects to Yogi’s ‘encounter’ statement, asks for explanation

The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath is known for making controversial statements which backfire at him. Recently Yogi Adityanath, was quoted as saying “criminals will be jailed or killed in encounters”. The statement didn’t take too long to backfire as the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the chief secretary of the state citing the statement made by the chief minister and asked for a detailed explanation for the same within six weeks.

NHRC in its press release stated that they are taking a suo moto cognizance on the issue. It also mentioned that the state government has described “the encounters as an achievement and a proof of improvement in the law and order situation”. The organisation has included statistics about the encounters which took place after BJP came into power in March.

According to the official statistics, as reported on the 5th October 2017, 433 such encounters have occurred over a period of six months starting from March 2017. A total of 19 alleged criminals were killed and 89 were injured. Apart from this, 98 officials were also injured and one died.

This negligence by the state government has been condemned on many occasions but the government seems to be failing to take actions against most of them. The report read, “it has been observed that even if the law and order situation is grave, the State cannot resort to such mechanism, which may result in the extra judicial killings of the alleged criminals,” which, apparently, the government has failed to do.

The report mentioned that this statement is tantamount to giving the police and the state officials a free hand or a free will to do as they please and it may result into the abuse of power by public servants. The statement also read, “it is not good for a civilised society to develop an atmosphere of fear, emerging out of certain policies adopted by the State, which may result into violation of their right to life and equality before law.”