Running raj in UP

Just 20 days after UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath had boasted at the second anniversary programme of his BJP government on March 25, that people’s perception of the state as a “mafia and goonda raj” has changed in the six-year rule of his BJP government, with the state registering growth in all sectors under the double-engine government, the shocking television clips showing how accused don Atiq and his brother were murdered in presence of police only proved that UP has not changed its spots. Atiq Ahmed (60) and his brother Ashraf were shot dead at point-blank range by three men posing as journalists with fake identification cards in the middle of a media interaction on April 15 night while police personnel were escorting them to a medical college for a checkup. According to media reports quoting unnamed sources, the manner in which the police had allowed media persons so close to the accused at night of incident, suggested nothing short of a carefully planned murder. The three killers who immediately surrendered after the deed, were identified as Lovelesh Tiwari, Sunny and Arun Maurya. Two weeks earlier on March 28 the Supreme Court had dismissed Atiq Ahmed’s plea seeking protection during his custody with the UP Police in the Umesh Pal murder case. In what could be a premonition of impending death, Atiq said he feared he would be killed in a fake encounter. Earlier UP was called a state where “goonda raj” prevailed. At present, it appears, that in the name of ‘wiping out’ or ‘eliminating goons’ the Yogi Adityanath government has established a “police raj”. According to Supreme Court advocate and independent MP of the Rajya Sabha, Kapil , since 2017 there had been over 83 alleged fake encounters in UP especially targeting accused persons of one particular community. The Lok Sabha was also informed in July 2022 that as many as 955 custodial deaths took place in UP during 2020-22. UP also recorded 451 custodial deaths in 2020-21 and the number rose to 501 in 2021-22, as per the government data. Former UP chief minister and SP leader Akhilesh Yadav commenting on the double murder, said that the BJP government did not believe in the courts and was taking the law into its own hands. He said those in power cannot pass judgement on who was right or wrong and to decide who should live or die. Prior to the shooting of Atiq Ahmed , his son 19-year-old Asad Ahmed and another aide, Ghulam Hussain, 32, were killed on April 13, in an encounter by the UP Police near Parichha embankment in Badagaon police station area of Jhansi district. The duo were wanted for the February shooting of Umesh Pal, the witness in the 2005 murder of Raju Pal and ex-MLA of the BSP in Prayagraj on February 24,2023. Added to the tag of running a “police raj” in UP, chief minister Yogi Adityanath has also earned for himself the nick name “Bulldozer Baba”, for using the equipment to raze down houses and properties of suspected mafia dons and wanted absconding persons. In this, the Adityanath government has reshaped the meaning of the bulldozer at its tool. Even if there are many who applaud instant justice, it must however be borne in mind that such acts pose grave threats on helpless and innocent victims.