Fatalities in encounters lawful: UP
› Police action against a criminal is not taken on the basis of the religion of the accused... the implication that criminals belong to minority community is incorrect. Of 48 criminals who have died in police action, 30 belong to the majority community and 18 to minority community UP GOVERNMENT’S AFFIDAVIT FILED IN THE SUPREME COURT
NEW DELHI: Deflecting allegations of fake encounters by Uttar Pradesh police in the past one year, the state government in an affidavit to the Supreme Court has claimed that all fatalities were “lawful” and no officer involved in these encounters has been given an instant gallantry award or out-of-turn promotion.
The government affidavit also rebuts the assertion that only people of the minority community were targeted under the so-called ‘police action’.
“Police action against a criminal is not taken on the basis of the religion of the accused. A perusal of the list of criminals fatally injured in police action and the implication that the criminals belong to minority community is incorrect. Of the 48 criminals who have died in police action, 30 belong to the majority community and 18 belong to minority community,” the affidavit read.
Giving out an “improved picture of law and order” in the state following such action, the affidavit said between March 2017 and March 2018, at least 3,19,000 people involved in serious crimes were arrested and about 98,000 accused surrendered in courts.
The affidavit was in response to a PIL by NGO, People’s Union for Civil Liberty (PUCL), which has alleged that the police action has the backing of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
The petition had earlier alleged that more than 500 fake encounters had been carried out by the UP police in the past one year, with 58 fatalities. The petition demanded a court-monitored CBI probe into the encounters and sought compensation for the families of those affected.
The UP government’s affidavit in response also listed details of the arms and ammunition recovered by the police in the past year.
“530 guns; 26,244 pistols; 1,136 revolvers; 388 rifles; 2,107 country-made bombs; and illegal firearms were recovered during the police actions,” said the affidavit, arguing that the petition filed by PUCL is “motivated and filed with mischievous intent” and needs to be dismissed, adding that “a selected statement imputed to the deputy chief minister of the state has been taken out of context to malign the image of the state government and the police”.
PUCL has referred to various news reports quoting the chief minister, deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and ADG law and order Anand Kumar, justifying the encounter killings of criminals in the state.