As many as 207 encounter deaths and 25,000 cases of accused being shot below the waist recorded in Uttar Pradesh in the last seven years

 
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh: In the wee hours of September 2, 2024, five policemen entered the house where Mangesh Yadav (26) lived in Jaunpur.. While taking him away, they said that he will be released after interrogation. In the nights of September 3 and 4, personnel from Baksa Police Station came to the house and made a video in which Mangesh’s mother Sheela Devi was forcibly made to say that Mangesh has not been home for the last two to three months. 

However, things took a serious turn on September 5 when police told her to go to the district hospital mortuary in Sultanpur to collect Mangesh's body. Despite making the required payment, Devi is yet to get her son’s postmortem report.

Devi later came to know that police had dubbed Mangesh the main accused in the August 28 jewellery store theft in Sultanpur. The police claim to have killed Mangesh in an encounter, but Devi is sure that it is a fake encounter. 

Devi filed an application in the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Court accusing Sultanpur Superintendent of Police, State Task Force in-charge DK Shahi and five policemen of murder and conspiracy. The CJM then sought a report from the Baksa Police Station in-charge.

“The police report was to be submitted by November 11. We hope we will get the report at least now," says Advocate Rishi Kumar Yadav, Devi’s lawyer.

“Police-sponsored murder cannot be expected in a welfare state. On September 25, a video of theft emerged, but it was not at all clear that Mangesh was in it," he adds.  

Uttar Pradesh Additional Director General (Law and Order) Amitabh Yash, tells 101Reporters that 207 accused died in police encounters in the state in the last seven years, while trying to escape after attacking the police. However, families of the deceased claim otherwise.  

In another alleged fake encounter in connection with the same theft case, Anuj Singh (23), a resident of Amethi district, was killed on September 23. Until 2021, Anuj used to attend a college at Sareni in Rae Bareli. He passed the course with 70% marks, and then took online coaching for a year to prepare for UPSC exams.  

Anuj's father Dharamraj Singh gets emotional when he talks about his son. "Ask anyone in this entire village and nearby areas what kind of a boy Anuj was. Everyone was surprised that the police killed Anuj in an encounter. He was very good at studies. The police showed me a video of the incident several times after September 28, and asked me to identify my son. I could not identify him in the entire video.”

“My question is when Anuj was not in this video, on what basis was he considered an accused? I have not got answers till date. I got a call from the police on the day of his death. After that, no one enquired about our well-being. Neither anyone came from the Human Rights Commission nor any NGO. Apart from mediapersons, no one cares about us," he says.

Dharamraj lives in Tiloi with his younger son. His wife died in the second wave of COVID-19 in 2021.

The same old theory

In ‘encounter’ deaths, the logic of Uttar Pradesh Police is always the same. The accused attacks the police while being taken for investigation. In an act of defence, the police retaliate, in which the accused dies.

So do policemen also die in encounters? Only in a real one, like in the case of encounter killing of gangster Vikas Dubey in Bikru village of Kanpur in July 2020. Eight policemen, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police, were killed in the incident.

Similarly, on June 2, 2016, 29 people were killed in an encounter between the police and criminals at Jawahar Bagh, Mathura. Two police officers died in the incident. Therefore, whenever police personnel are not injured in an encounter, the authenticity of the encounter is doubted.  

However, ADG Yash claims that not a single encounter of UP Police is fake. “Police have the right to defend themselves against criminals. After every encounter, there is an investigation, and we face it,” he says.

A total of 501 deaths occurred in custody in 2021-22. The year before, 451 such cases were registered. After Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh top the list.

“As far as common people are concerned, my research has found that 40% of the people believe that there should be no legal trial of criminals. It is appropriate to kill them as soon as an opportunity arises. This situation is dangerous. These days, both the government and the common people glorify encounter deaths," Radhika Jha, an advocate with Common Cause India, tells 101Reporters.

It is not just encounter deaths, even injuries in alleged encounters are increasing in Uttar Pradesh.

Testing new methods

Chaupatiya is an old area in Lucknow. Tinku Gupta alias Tinku Nepali’s late father used to run a small business named Gupta Tent House here. This business used to generate good income, but suddenly Tinku came into contact with some criminals of the area and started committing petty crimes. As soon as his name figured in their records, the police started coming to the house every day in search of Tinku. Eventually Tinku left home.

However, in 2019, the police shot Tinku in the leg claiming that he was trying to flee after attacking police personnel at Krishnanagar. He is still in jail, and his leg has not become any better. After the death of his father, now his brother is struggling to make ends meet. One sister is married and the younger brother is now trying to get the other sister married as well.

According to Uttar Pradesh Police data, there have been about 13,000 such incidents in the last seven years, in which the accused were shot in the knee. 

This is called “half fry” in the UP Police parlance. Just as the police have a theory for encounter deaths, they have a similar justification for shooting in the knee, which is that the accused tried to run away and attacked police when they tried to catch him. 

Before the Yogi Adityanath government came into power in 2017, this method of controlling criminals was rarely in use. However, in the last seven years, about 25,000 accused were shot in the leg. Most of them were allegedly involved in cases of molestation, rape, robbery, thefts, rioting, attempt to murder, murder and hooliganism. Every week, at least one or two cases of shooting in the leg are reported in the state.

"Before 2017, only a few such cases used to come to the fore. Then there used to be full encounters. However, the police have now changed their attitude. Their first goal is to create fear in the minds of criminals," says Naval Kant Sinha, a senior crime reporter in Uttar Pradesh.

“It may be true that my brother was involved in some crime, but it is not right to shoot him in the leg. In one or two cases, the accused might have escaped from the clutches of the police. However, if this has happened 13,000 times, then there will definitely be doubt. Even if my brother gets bail today or is acquitted in these cases, will his leg ever heal," asks Avnish Gupta alias Chhotu, Tinku’s brother. 

Advocate Neeraj Srivastava, Tinku's friend, says that shooting in the leg has two benefits from the police perspective. “Firstly, in the name of crime control, the message goes to the common people that UP Police take very strict action. Secondly, the legal aspect of the encounter is also followed through this method. The first rule of an encounter is that the police will shoot above the waist only when it is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, the effort should be to shoot below the waist. So in such cases, it becomes easy for the police to avoid the Human Rights Commission.”

“What happens is that when an accused dies in a police encounter, the Human Rights Commission is more strict with the police. Therefore, the police try to shoot the accused in the leg unless it is very necessary. However, this bullet becomes a lifelong curse for the accused. He walks with a limp forever, even if in future he is acquitted of the cases registered against him,” says Srivastava.

However, Director General of Police Prashant Kumar tells 101Reporters that they take action in accordance with the rules. "When a criminal becomes aggressive after being caught and tries to escape, we have to take action while following the rules. We make every possible effort to keep them alive in most cases. That is why the bullet is fired below the waist, so that they can be controlled. Killing them is not our aim," he reiterates. 

However, Radhika Jha feels that shooting in the leg was a way of meting out punishment for the crime immediately. “It is as if there is no need for any legal process. By giving immediate punishment, the government's law and order is being glorified among the common people. This is affecting the criminal justice system." 

This story was originally published as a part of Crime and Punishment project in collaboration with Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.

Cover Photo - Representative image/ AI-generated using Canva