Fearing encounter, gangsters eye ‘creative’ surrenders

HUGE JUMP IN SURRENDERS

NEWDELHI: When a suspected gangster, whose name figured in at least three murder cases, wanted to give himself up, he took the entire population of his village with him to the police station to bear witness. Another, a fugitive, posed as a lawyer to reach a court to surrender. Two other wanted men reached the office of the district superintendent of police wearing placards with bold handwritten messages that they had faith in the law.

Those are some of the creative methods used by suspected criminals in the badlands of western Uttar Pradesh to avoid being shot to death before surrendering to law enforcers in India’s most populous state, where a crackdown is underway against criminals.

More than 1,000 suspected gangsters have given themselves up to UP Pplice or the courts in the past one year to avoid being shot in encounters with the trigger-happy police. Police data, between March 19, 2017(the day of Yogi Adityanath’s appointment as chief minister) and March 30, 2018, says at least 1,086 ‘wanted criminals’ surrendered in nine UP districts near Delhi. The average in previous years used to be around 100. The nine districts — Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Meerut, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Hapur, Ghaziabad, Baghpat and Shamli —that are part of western UP account for 70% (34) of 49 encounter deaths.

No wanted criminal gets political patronage these days. This is why they are surrendering... There are no gang wars now. PRASHANT KUMAR , ADG, Meerut zone)

More than 1,000 suspected gangsters have given themselves up to the UP police or the courts in the past one year to avoid being shot in encounters with the trigger-happy police. Average in previous years used to be around 100. The rise in encounters cases has made criminals come up with ideas like posing as a lawyer in order to safely reach police station or court before surrender.