New Delhi: A Ghaziabad court on Wednesday directed police to register FIRs against 12 policemen posted at the Vijay Nagar and Sahibabad police stations in two separate alleged ‘fake encounter’ cases. earlier this year.
Yasmeen, the petitioner in the Vijay Nagar case, said that her brothers – Farman, Sazeb and Aamir – were ‘falsely implicated’ in an attempt to murder case by two locals on June 17. When she and Aamir went to the police station on June 27 for the latter to surrender, Yasmeen said that the police her Aamit would be “arrested in an encounter”.
A few days later, when Aamir and Yasmeen were returning from a court, the police “abducted him and fled in a car’, she claimed. “He was shown arrested in an exchange of fire around 2 pm and suffered an injury in his leg. Police said he was carrying a reward of Rs 15,000 and was trying to flee after shooting one of his acquaintances,” reported the Times of India.
Chief judicial magistrate Ekta Singh said that the FIRs should be registered against the then SHO of Vijay Nagar Shyamveer Singh, sub-inspector Kaveesh Kumar and Brahmpal Singh and constables Vipin and Manoj Baliyan, besides two-three unidentified cops. An FIR would also be registered against Moni and Anuj, who apparently falsely implicated the brothers.
Also Read: The Lawlessness of Encounter Killings
According to TOI, in the Sahibabad casse, the petitioner Mohsin Khan said that two FIRs were registered against his brother Sanjeed by Nikhil Kumar and his house help. When Sanjeed went to the Sahibabad police station to surrender, the police did not take him into custody. “On September 4, both were allegedly abducted by cops near Karhera cut and taken to Koyal Enclave. Sanjeed was allegedly hit in his leg and both were sent to jail,” the newspaper reported.
the CJM ordered an FIR to be filed against sub-inspectors Shailendra Singh and Sallauddin, constables Saurabh Solanki, Shamshad, Lalit Kumar, Sanjay and Sanjeev Gupta and Nikhil Kumar.
Khalid Khan, who is the counsel in both the petitions, told TOI, “The court of CJM Ekta Singh directed police to lodge FIRs and conduct a probe.”
Since Yogi Adityanath became chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in 2017, there has been a marked rise in the number of police ‘encounters’. According to reports, there have been close to 4,000 encounters, many of which are said to be staged or fake. The Wire has conducted an extensive investigation into cases of alleged fake encounters.
While rights bodies have expressed concern at the situation, the Uttar Pradesh police and government have denied allegations that the encounters were staged and claim police opened fire only in self-defence or in gun battles. In January this year, the UP government publicised the killings of ‘criminals’ – along with total encounters and arrests – as part of its achievements that were publicised on Republic Day.