The Uttar Pradesh Government has launched ‘Operation Langad’, in which encounters have become the norm and not out of choice. Across eight cities in Uttar Pradesh, including Lucknow, Shamli, Agra, Unnao, Jhansi, and Ghaziabad, 10 encounters have taken place in the last 24 hours. The UP Govt claims that the drive had targeted criminals, history-sheeters, and rape accused. Media reports show that encounters have also taken place against alleged ‘cow smugglers’, robbery accused, theft accused. This model is not new, but a continuation since 2017. The police claim that these were ‘wanted criminals’ and upon whom a bounty had been declared for a long time.
A Fact-Finding Report reveals that the UP Government has conducted 420 encounters in 2017, killing 15 people in the process, and the number has increased to 32 in 2018. The report shows that the Police versions and the FIR are in conflict with those of the family. The report also says that in most cases, the bodies were found to have torture marks, which otherwise wouldn’t result from on-the-spot firing. It also analyses the patterns in which most of the families had anticipated their son’s death and had been intimidated by the police, not to pursue the case of the encounter. Some of the families also allege that their family members have been arrested on fake charges, and thus, keeping them in fear of questioning the killings or registering the FIRs.
“The police claim that those killed were wanted criminals with several cases against them and have a bounty of several thousand on them. This is, however, disputed by the family, claiming that either the deceased had left criminal activities long ago or that he had served his sentence,” the report says.
“Legally, self-defence and retaliation are explicitly demarcated. And in an encounter, the right of self-defence available to any person ends, mainly, when there is the possibility to overpower the culprit without killing him. If the force does the act of killing the victim even after they get a chance to overpower them, it is beyond the right of self-defence.”
The report reveals that most of the encounter killings were close shots. The Apex Court in Extra Judicial Execution Victim Families Association (EEVFAM) and Ors. Vs. The Union of India (UOI) and Ors has succinctly stated that the right to self-defence or private defence falls into one basket, and the use of excessive force or retaliatory force falls into another basket.
However, since 2017, hundreds of encounter killings have taken place under the Yogi government, with no investigation or follow-up procedures.
