Uttar Pradesh Police Kills 50th Encounter Victim In One Year

A wanted criminal succumbed to bullet injuries in Muzaffarnagar today, marking the 50th victim of Uttar Pradesh police’s encounter spree which started last year in March after BJP government came into power in the state.

He has been identified by the police as Rehan, a member of Mukeem Kala gang with a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head. He had 15 cases of murder and attempt to murder registered against him, police said.

The incident

As reported by The Indian Express, police claimed that Rehan was on a bike on his way to a hospital to kill a mother and daughter who he suspects are witnesses to a case against his associate. He was on the bike with another associate when the encounter took place.

“On December 15 last year, the woman and her daughter were attacked by Rehan and an unidentified associate in the Charthawal police station area when she was on her way to meet her brother. The women and daughter were severely injured but were saved by timely medical intervention. Since then, we had been looking for Rehan,” said Muzaffarnagar SSP Anant Deo.

“On Thursday afternoon, the woman was at the hospital to get her bandage removed when we got information that Rehan might try to attack her again. A police team intercepted him and his associate on the Charthawal-Peena road. In the firing from both the sides, he was seriously injured while his associate managed to flee. We took him to a hospital nearby where he succumbed to the injuries,” the SSP said.

The Logical Indian take

With the death of Rehan, the number of criminals killed in 1,700-odd encounters becomes 50. Yogi Adityanath’s government thinks UP can be made crime-free with encounters. Allegedly most of the encounters have taken place because the criminals opened fire first.

In January 2018, an eight-year-old boy was shot dead by Uttar Pradesh Police when they were in the middle of an “encounter” to kill alleged criminals in Mathura’s Mohanpura village. The kid’s grandfather said that he was playing outside with his friends when he was shot in the head. As per data received from the annual reports of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Uttar Pradesh accounted for a surging 44.5% (794 cases) of the cases registered across all states. NHRC has issued a notification to the UP government, asking the police to stop encounters.

The NHRC, in a press release, stated: “Elimination of a criminal in such an unlawful manner can never send a good message to a civilized society. As has been emphasized time and again, the police do not have a right to take away the life of a human being. It is not the lawful way to deal with criminals.”

However, the Uttar Pradesh government continues to kill alleged criminals.