The lok Gathbandhan Party (lGP) welcomed the decision of Supreme Court on issuing notice to UP government in connection with police encounters during the last one year.
The Apex court took up the matter following a PIl which demanded a CBI investigation in at least 1500 police encounters in which 58 people were killed.
Spokesman of lGP said in lucknow on Tuesday that immediately after the BJP government took over in 2017, instructions were issued to kill criminals which led the trigger-happy police to go berserk in the name of controlling law and order.
“Such a large number of encounters surely provide justified ground for high-level probe as there are reports that in the name of killing criminals, the police were settling personal scores. Even as the law and order situation continues to be bad, the police were given a free hand by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to eliminate criminals,” he said.
The spokesman said that the Noida incident of shooting of an innocent person in February last was a glaring example of how the police were running amok.
“Wrapped up as encounter, the police got licence to kill anybody in the state,” he alleged.
He said that the lGP was not opposed to elimination of hardened criminals who have become menace for the society but the way UP Police has been behaving was disturbing and dubious.
“In the past, there have been cases when the police helped one criminal group to settle score with the other. The cops could not be given free hand to randomly kill people, as happened in Noida,” he said.
The lGP spokesman said that these encounters have not helped in controlling crime but have led to police anarchy.
“The BJP’s slogan of ‘bullet for bullet’ in curbing crime has been badly exposed as people are worried about the prevailing situation,” he said.
Criticising the government for its utter failure in improving law and order, the spokesman said that despite tall claims, ground realities were absolutely different.
“The BJP had come to power on issues of poor crime situation during SP government, bad governance and massive corruption but it too has failed to make any change in this connection during the last one year,” he said.