UP minister on encounters: Not sheltering criminals

Representational photo

With the Opposition raising questions on the encounter killings under the Yogi Adityanath government, UP cabinet minister Shrikant Sharma on Friday said the government did not want to shelter criminals. “We are not giving any shelter to criminals like the governments in the past have done. The BJP government had declared zero tolerance to crime,” said Energy Minister Sharma.

He said there have been 430 encounters in the last six months in which 17 criminals were killed and 1,106 captured. “In the encounters, 88 police personnel were injured and one sub-inspector succumbed to the injuries,” Sharma said.

He said of 868 of the 1,106 criminals captured had reward on their heads. Sixty-nine of those captured were charged under Gangsters Act, he said.