Collateral damages happen when cops are attacked, says UP’s new ADG (law & order)

AGRA: Policemen are legally empowered to defend themselves when attacked, UP’s new ADG (law & order) Prashant Kumar said on Friday, calling "encounter deaths and injuries" collateral damages. Talking about the killing of gangster Vikas Dubey in an encounter with police earlier in the day, he said, “I don’t subscribe to encounters. It’s not a policy as such but people associate it with me."
As Meerut zone’s ADG, Kumar’s team carried out 2,273 encounters in its eight districts-- Meerut, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Baghpat, Bulandshahar, Ghaziabad and Hapur. In all, 65 wanted accused were shot dead, 1,332 sustained grievous bullet injuries and 4,256 were arrested in after police encounters.
“During my tenure in Meerut zone there was no crime, all criminals surrendered. People were surrendering with placards declaring ‘I want to surrender’, ADG told TOI. He reemphasised that "collateral damages happen when policemen defend themselves".
The UP ADG added: “My only take is there should be zero tolerance for crime and criminals. We should go all out to detect it. During that process if somebody is firing at you, we are legally empowered and authorized to use means (at our disposal). And during that if something happens, it’s collateral damage,” he said.
Kumar, who took charge as UP ADG (law and order) in May, said, "People ask me why encounters happened more in my area (Meerut), but they don’t understand that it was a crime infested area since the time of Mahabharata...there were fights for even one inch of land.?
About the Dubey encounter, the officer said, “For me it was shocking to see a local gunda surviving and thriving in the Kanpur region. We haven’t seen anybody taking on a police party and open fire indiscriminately, killing eight cops. Barring Naxals, dacoits and terrorists, nobody targets police in such a way. He was a person who had criminal history and was (out) on bail in his area. There was no need for him to fire on the police...nobody is allowed to take law into their own hands; he tried to escape from police custody and people are raising questions. When he can kill eight policemen, he could have killed four more men.”
The senior police officer also said that the car in which Vikas was sitting was changed as part of strategy.
“People are making allegations that cars were exchanged just before the encounter. Well, it was part of our strategy. The team commander, whose men were carrying Vikas, took the decision. Suppose somebody had attacked, as he is such a dreaded criminal, then what would have happened,” Kumar asked.
The ADG trashed charges that media persons were stopped from following the escort vehicles before the encounter took place. “Media persons alleged that they were not allowed to follow the STF cavalcade…You (media) should have disclosed your identity that 'I am from the press', (sic) we would have allowed (sic). Who knows if men trailing the team were working on behalf of somebody or not? Police never hide anything. We got him from Madhya Pradesh after signing the papers. He was not wanted there, but in UP. They didn’t hand us and asked us to go and kill him,” Kumar added.
“It’s the irony of our system -- that he killed a person inside a police station and was exonerated. But still, I say nobody should be tortured or killed. Our endeavor was to produce him in court. It was raining heavily. Near a speed breaker some cattle appeared, the car turned turtle and he tried to escape. There is a CMO (chief medical officer) who has confirmed that policemen have got injured,” he added.