New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh Police, since Yogi Adityanath took charge as chief minister, has registered more than 3,000 encounters in which at least 78 ‘criminals’ were gunned down in the 16 months between March 2017 and July 2018.
While the Supreme Court has expressed concern over the encounters and agreed to examine a plea seeking a court-monitored CBI or SIT probe into the killings, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to publicise them as its achievements on Republic Day.
According to a report in The Indian Express, chief secretary Anup Chandra Pandey has sent a communication to all districts magistrates ahead of January 26 with a list of the achievements of the government.
Congress leader P Chidambaram, in a Tweet, slammed the ‘muscular’ model of governance offered by the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.
In 16 months 78 persons were killed in encounters by the Uttar Pradesh police. Is this the rule of law under the Constitution of India?— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) January 25, 2019
A bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Ashok Bhushan and S K Kaul, will hear a petition by the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) on February 12.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, however, had claimed all norms and procedures were followed by the state administration during these encounters.
The NGO, in its plea, referred to news reports quoting Adityanath, his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya and ADG (law and order) Anand Kumar justifying the encounter killings in the state.
Yogi, during an interview in June 2017, had said, “Agar apradh karenge, toh thok diye jayenge" (If they commit crimes, we will knock them down).
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