Lockdown Eases, Encounters Go Up: Noida Police Report 8 Shootouts In 9 Days

The 'encounters' between criminals and UP police have gone up since the lockdown has been eased, as per a report in TNN.

Over a span of nine days, Noida Police alone took part in eight shootouts with criminals. 11 suspects have been taken into custody as a result; nine of them had injuries.

All those arrested have a criminal background and many carried a reward of Rs 25,000 issued by the UP Police.

On May 20, the first such encounter happened after a gap of nearly two months. In a joint operation with Special Operations Group, the police claimed that it was forced to fire shots at three criminals when they attacked them.

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Three criminals--Saddam, Satar and Pankaj--were arrested. All of them received bullet injuries in the alleged encounter. They were accused of robbing a truck that was transporting coolers. Three country-made revolvers were seized from their possession.

Six days later, the Noida Police arrested Mohit after a brief encounter. He received a gunshot injury on his leg. Mohit is accused of stealing bikes. The police claimed that he robbed his victims by hitting them with a wooden stick and threatened them with a pistol.

Inadvertently, the first press statement issued by Noida Police mentioned that they have recovered a blood-soaked wooden stick and a toy pistol, which was later changed to country-made revolver.

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Since then, there has been a series of face-off between police and suspected criminals. A gang of cow smugglers was asked to stop on the intervening night of May 26-May 27. In the encounter that followed, Chahllum Ali received a gunshot injury on his leg. Two people were arrested. Police again seized countrymade revolvers and claimed that the suspects had several cases of cow slaughter and Arms Act registered against them.

On May 27, the police claimed an alleged cow smuggler Naseem was arrested after an encounter. He, too, was injured and received a gunshot injury on his leg. The country-made revolver and cartridges were recovered from him.

The following day, in Greater Noida, the police claimed it received a tip-off that a man with a criminal antecedent was planning to commit a crime. Like in other cases, it was the same sequence of events. A suspected criminal, Sachin, fired shots at police when they asked him to surrender. The police also fired in retaliation. Sachin received gunshot injuries and a country-made revolver was recovered from him.

PTI

Between May 28 and May 29, three criminals were arrested and two got injured in the alleged police encounters.

Uttar Pradesh has seen several such encounters between police and criminals. Since 2017, over 5,000 such shootouts have taken place. Human rights activists have questioned the state government and the police over such encounters. The police have always defended themselves claiming that the crime rate in the state has gone down because of strict enforcement of the law.

In 2018, Apple executive Vivek Tiwari was killed by firing by UP Police. Initially, police claimed that he didn't stop his SUV at a checkpoint but subsequent investigation by an SIT revealed that a constable Prashant Chaudhary indiscriminately fired shots at him. The constable was arrested and booked for murder. Chaudhary's colleague was arrested for voluntarily causing hurt to Tiwari's ex-colleague who was in the SUV.