"State government is finished": Ajay Rai slams UP govt after court flags "encounter" culture

Agra (Uttar Pradesh) [India], February 1 (ANI): Uttar Pradesh Congress President Ajay Rai on Saturday launched a sharp attack on the state government after the Allahabad High Court took a strict view of the alleged practice of police shooting accused persons in the leg during encounters.
Reacting to the High Court's observations, Rai claimed that law and order in Uttar Pradesh had collapsed and said the state government had failed to ensure justice.
"The state government is finished, and they are carrying out, half encounters, full encounters...They are bulldozing the homes, will they ensure justice to anyone?" Rai told ANI.
He welcomed the High Court's order and said action must be taken against those responsible. "I thank the courts. Strict action should be taken against those involved in these wrongdoings," he said.
The remarks came after the Allahabad High Court expressed concern over what it described as a growing trend of police encounters in the state, particularly incidents where accused persons are shot in the leg and later labelled as encounters.
In an order passed on January 28 in the case of Raju alias Rajkumar vs State of Uttar Pradesh, Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal directed the Director General of Police and the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) to appear before the Court through video conferencing on January 30.
The Court asked the DGP and the Home Secretary to clarify whether any oral or written instructions had been issued to police personnel to shoot accused persons in the leg or otherwise, while presenting such incidents as police encounters.
In its order, the Court observed that police encounters, especially those involving gunshot injuries to the leg, had become routine in the state. The Bench noted that such acts appear to be carried out either to please senior officers or to punish accused persons outside the legal process.
"Such conduct is completely unacceptable, as the power to punish rests only with the courts, not with the police. India is a democratic state governed by the rule of law, therefore the functions of the executive, legislature, and judiciary are clearly defined, and any encroachment by the police into the judicial domain is impermissible," the Court said.
These observations were made while hearing bail pleas of three accused persons who sustained injuries in separate police encounters. The Court also noted that no police personnel suffered injuries in those incidents, which raised serious questions about the necessity and proportionality of the use of firearms.
In one case, the Court had earlier asked the State to clarify whether an FIR was registered in connection with the encounter and whether the injured person's statement was recorded before a magistrate or a medical officer.
The State informed the Court that an FIR had been registered, but the injured person's statement was not recorded before a magistrate or a medical officer. It was also stated that the investigation, earlier handled by a sub-inspector, had now been assigned to an inspector.
After reviewing the submissions, the Court said that Supreme Court guidelines on police encounters were not followed. It directed the DGP and the Home Secretary to clarify whether instructions were issued to ensure compliance with the Supreme Court's directions in the PUCL case, including registration of FIRs, recording of statements of injured persons, and investigation by senior officers in cases of death or grievous injury during encounters. (ANI)