To improve the law and order situation of the state, the UP police is aggressively carrying out encounters and in the last 48 hours, officers have carried out 18 encounters, killing one and arresting 25 wanted criminals. The criminal who was killed in the encounter had prize money of Rs. 25,000 on his head.
The encounters have been carried out in 10 districts of UP – Muzaffarnagar, Gorakhpur, Bulandshahr, Shamli, Hapur, Meerut, Saharanpur, Baghpat, Kanpur and Lucknow.
STF got big success when they shot down a criminal Indrapal in Muzaffarnagar. He was from Ghaziabad and had 33 criminal cases against him. As per the police, he was a part of Haridwar shootout, 2013 in which a police officer was killed. When STF asked him to surrender, he opened fire that resulted in firing from both sides and a sub-inspector got injured in the process.
The police officers have also recovered a lot of cash, jewellery and cars from the criminals who have been caught in these encounters.
The Director General of Police OP Singh said that encounters happen because police has to fire in self-defence. Here’s what he said during a press-conference,
“Encounters keep happening because we have to catch criminals. Encounters happen because we fire in self-defence.”
However, there are allegations that innocent citizens are also getting targeted in these encounters as Samajwadi Party has alleged that UP police officers are staging encounters in order to get promotions.
Pankhuri Pathak, the spokesperson of Samajwadi Party tweeted , “Innocent man named Jitendra Yadav shot in the neck in another failed encounter bid by @noidapolice in Noida . @UPGovt trying best to keep the issue away from the media. He is fighting for his life in Fortis Hospital. @Uppolice officers shooting innocents for promotions. Plz RT.”
Innocent man named Jitendra Yadav shot in the neck in another failed encounter bid by @noidapolice in Noida . @UPGovt trying best to keep the issue away from the media. He is fighting for his life in Fortis Hospital. @Uppolice officers shooting innocents for promotions. Plz RT. pic.twitter.com/LJadnHfD0z
— Pankhuri Pathak पंखुड़ी पाठक پنکھڑی (@pankhuripathak) February 4, 2018
National Human Rights Commission has also got into action as it issued a statement,
“The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of media reports about the government of Uttar Pradesh allegedly endorsing killings in encounters by police, seeking improvement in the law and order situation in the state.”
However, the UP government has denied any such claim and said that it conducts a proper magisterial enquiry after every encounter and if there is any truth in such claims, proper action will be taken.