Lucknow, March 11, 2023 (PPI-OT): The statements of two Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and Members of Indian Parliament (MPs) on recent encounters in the Uttar Pradesh state have created a furor with the opposition parties slamming the Yogi government. “The killing of Umesh Pal and his security personnel, is a direct attack on the state government. Remember that even Vikas Dubey was killed and there is no need to tell what will happen to these criminals. I will not be surprised if Atiq’s car also overturns,” said BJP MP, Subrat Pathak. “Atiq Ahmed should be brought out of jail and killed in an encounter. The gates of heaven will open for the policeman who does so,” said BJP MP, Hari Narain Rajbhar.

After these two statements were issued, the opposition parties attacked the ‘encounter politics’ of the ruling BJP. Samajwadi Party (SP) spokesman Abdul Hafiz Gandhi said, “Even as questions are arising on the alleged encounter of Usman, whose family claims that his real name is Vijay Chaudhary, the statements issued by these BJP MPs clearly indicate the mind-set of this government which follows its own set of rules and not the rule of law.” SP MP Prof Ram Gopal Yadav has already said that the UP Police would eliminate one of the two minor sons of Atiq Ahmad who has been allegedly missing since the past few days.

Congress spokesman Surendra Rajput said, “It is clear now that the BJP has no respect for the Constitution. We are definitely in favor of strict punishment for all criminals, but that should be in accordance with law. The bulldozer and encounter policy is not prescribed in the Constitution. The duty of the police is to take the criminal to court and ensure strict punishment as per legal provisions. It is unfortunate that encounters are becoming a rule rather than exception.”

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati has also expressed the apprehension that the UP government, to hide its embarrassment of not having made much headway into the Umesh Pal murder case, could enact a Vikas Dubey-type encounter. Vikas Dubey was a gangster from Kanpur who was killed in an encounter. Police had claimed that he died in an encounter while trying to escape after the police vehicle, in which he was being brought back to Uttar Pradesh from Madhya Pradesh (where he was caught), overturned in Kanpur in July 2020.

The police encounters followed in Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad) after the gunning down of Umesh Pal, a key witness in the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal in 2005, and two police personnel in Prayagraj last month. Police claims that Atiq Ahmad, already lodged in a Gujarat jail in connection with another case, was involved in planning the attack.

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