Yogi govt to publicise 3,026 encounters and 78 killings as its achievements on Republic Day

Ahead of Republic Day, Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has sent a communique to all district magistrates, asking them to publicize over 3,200 encounters and 79 killings as achievement in the first 16 months of the government.

Sent by the UP Chief Secretary Anup Chandra Pandey, the communique along with a letter enlists a statewide data of encounters, arrests and killings, apart from measures taken by the Yogi government for the welfare of farmers etc.

According to the letter, UP had recorded 3,026 encounters till July 2018 in which 69 criminals were gunned down, 7,043 criminals were arrested, and 838 criminals sustained injuries.

The letter further claims that 11,981 criminals had their bail canceled and surrendered in courts between July 2017 to July 2018, adding that the Special Task Force (STF) gunned down nine other criminals in encounters, besides arresting 139 others.

An analysis of the data shared by the Yogi government shows that during the aforesaid period, an average of six encounters took place every day, with 14 criminals arrested, and at least four criminals were killed in encounters every month.

Yogi Adityanath government had sent a similar letter to all districts magistrates in 2018 also, asking them to highlight encounters and killings on Republic Day programme as the achievements of the government.

Last year’s letter highlighted the data of number of people booked by anti-Romeo squads also. However, this year the communication makes no mention of these figures.