With Four Killings a Day, Yogi Govt Prefers Encounters over Normal Policing to Improve Law and Order

It was in November last year that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had objected to the statement of Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath hailing and endorsing killing of alleged criminals in police encounters as the official policy of his government.

“We will make life difficult for criminals. They will have only two places to go: either they will be sent to jail, or they will be killed in police encounters,” Adityanath had said while addressing a municipal election campaigning rally at the Ramleela ground in Ghaziabad on November 18.

Immediately after Adityanath's statement, the NHRC had issued a notice to his government expressing its concern that the chief minister's statement may lead to the police official misusing their power. At that time, the number of police encounter was over 500.

In its notice the human rights watchdog had clearly told the Yogi government that it cannot adopt police encounters as the strategy to improve law and order in the state. But more crucially, the NHRC asked the Yogi govt that it cannot describe the encounters as an achievement and an evidence of improvement in the law and order situation, something which the State government has been trying to do since it has come to power.

“Even if the law and order situation is grave, the State cannot resort to such mechanisms [encounters], which may result in the extra judicial killings of the alleged criminals. The reported statement of the chief minister is tantamount to giving police and other State-governed forces, a free hand to deal with the criminals at their will and, possibly, it may result in abuse of power by public servants,” said the NHRC notice to the chief secretary and the director general of police (DGP) of UP.

Neither the chief minister nor the State police took heed of the NHRC caution. And due to the continued endorsement of the political leadership the police doubled the tally of encounters in just two and a half months; from 500 in November last week to 1,142 by February 7. Over 30 people have been killed during these encounters.

But the prediction of the NHRC about public officers misusing their power literally came true three days ago. Jitendra Yadav, a twenty-five-year old gym owner in Noida, was shot by a sub-inspector of the UP police on February 3. The sub-inspector was reportedly heard telling his colleagues earlier that the “encounter” will earn him an out of turn promotion.

Yadav and his friends were attacked and shot at by the sub-inspector and his colleagues when they were on their way home from a family function in Ghaziabad. According to eyewitnesses, the sub-inspector and his fellow cops bundled Yadav into the back seat of his vehicle after which the sub-inspector pulled out his service revolver and fired at Yadav's throat in cold blood. The SI and another policeman drove away in the vehicle with the bleeding victim. They reached the Fortis Hospital in Sector-62 of Noida after 90 minutes of the incident, while the hospital is barely 7 km from the shooting scene. One of the friends of the victim who was also an eyewitness alleged that after the shooting, the SI called someone on his cell phone saying that an encounter has taken place.

Yadav is currently fighting for his life at fortis hospital. When the alleged fake encounter raised a hue and cry in the civil society, the police was forced to suspend four of its personnel and arrest the sub-inspector.

After the February 3 encounter, the NHRC has yet again issued a fresh notice to the Yogi government making strong observations against the Uttar Pradesh police.

“The Commission has observed that it seems that the police personnel in UP are feeling free, misusing their power in the light of an undeclared endorsement given by the higher- ups. They are using their privileges to settle scores with the people,” the NHRC said in its notice.

“The police force is to protect the people; these kinds of incidents would send a wrong message to the society. Creating an atmosphere of fear is not the correct way to deal with the crime. In this particular case, the injured man is not an offender,” the NHRC observed, adding that the sub-inspector had violated the man’s right to life and liberty.

This is the third time in last 10 months of the Yogi Adityanath government that the NHRC has sent a notice to the UP government over allegations of fake encounters. The first time it sent a notice to the Yogi government over encounters was in October last year after gangster Sumit Gurjar was killed in an encounter in Greater Noida, seeking a reply in four weeks. After the encounter, allegations had surfaced that Gurjar was killed in a fake encounter.

Second time was in November after Yogi Adityanath's statement endorsing police encounters as a means to improve law and order and the third time on February 6 after allegations of fake encounter in Noida.

The police faced stinging criticism over the cavalier attitude towards encounter after an eight-year-old boy was killed after he was caught in crossfire between police and alleged criminals near Mathura last month.

Despite the questions raised by the civil society highlighting loopholes in the police stories of encounters, the top cop of the State has repeatedly defended police encounters.

“Encounters keep happening because we have to catch criminals. Encounters happen because we fire in self-defence,” said the newly appointed Director General of Police OP Singh at a press conference in Lucknow. But the manner in which police encounters have been happening automatically raise questions on police encounters. It seems that police has been asked to prefer encounters over normal policing as a means to control law and order. For instance, in what appears to be a marathon for encounters, UP police last week claimed to have done 18 encounters in 48 hours killing one alleged criminal and arresting 25 people on its wanted list.