Report ready, UP Police will justify its action on encounters: Addl DG

Unfazed by a Supreme Court notice on police encounters, the UP Government on Tuesday said that it was ready with the report to be submitted in the apex court. “There is nothing to hide and the Yogi Government took the right decision to control crime in the State,” asserted Government spokesperson and Energy Minister Srikant Sharma.

The Supreme Court on Monday had asked UP Government to submit its report on police encounters within two weeks. Replying to a query in Lucknow on Tuesday, Sharma said that criminals were now being dealt with iron fist and the Government would not tolerate any criminal activity in the State.

Additional DG (Law and order) Anand Kumar said on Tuesday that the UP Police would justify its actions in the court. He said that from the day the Yogi Government took charge in March 2017 till June 15, 2018, there have been 2,174 encounters in which 5,222 criminals were nabbed. In the cross firing, 59 criminals carrying cash rewards were killed and 534 injured.

Talking to reporters, the ADG said that four policemen were martyred while 390 suffered bullet injuries in these encounters.

“In the case of killing of 59 criminals, 25 magisterial probes have been completed. In 23 cases, the police have filed final reports out of which the courts have accepted 16 cases so far,” he said.

 Kumar said that the UP Police followed all norms set by Supreme Court in any encounter, including probes by different stations and by  senior officers. “Besides, in all encounters magisterial probe were ordered, post-mortem of criminals killed was done by panel of doctors and reports were sent to National Human Rights Commission within 24 hours,” he said. The ADG clarified that the police has no intention of taking the life of any criminal but when during encounters, criminals open fire, they are retalited. He said during the past 18 months, over 7,000 criminals were arrested across the state of which over 2,000 were wanted and rewards were announced for their arrest. “Just killing of 59 criminals of 2000 dreaded ones cannot be termed that the UP Police was eliminating criminals in the name of law and order,” the ADG claimed.