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Cases against Uttar Pradesh policemen grow

Updated - October 01, 2021 11:47 pm IST - LUCKNOW

Entire effort of the police is to somehow give clean chit to the accused: Allahabad High Court earlier said in a case of custodial death

File photo of Uttar Pradesh police personnel.

The murder charge against three policemen along with the suspension of six policemen in Gorakhpur for the death of a Kanpur trader is not the only one faced by the police in Uttar Pradesh in the recent months.

In September, the Allahabad High Court transferred the probe of an alleged custodial death of a 24-year-old man Krishna Yadav in Jaunpur to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). A Special Operations Group team of the police and the Station House Officer (SHO) of Baksa had in February gone to Yadav’s house and allegedly taken him away to the police station for detention in relation to a loot case. While the family accused the police of murder, the police said that Yadav was apprehended while he was driving a motorcycle and fell, receiving injuries. He was sent to hospital for treatment but was declared dead. The CBI lodged a case under murder and robbery against the police. While transferring the case to the CBI, the High Court had said that the investigation so far had shown that the “entire effort of the police is to somehow give clean chit to the accused and for this purpose important evidence are being left and some evidences are created and manipulated”.

In June, three police personnel, including an SHO, were suspended and booked for murder. Rajesh Kori (35) had allegedly eloped with a minor girl living in his neighbourhood but they were soon found and brought to the Kudwar Police Station, where Kori, a resident of Jagdishpur village, died in the station premises under “suspicious circumstances”.

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In May, a vegetable vendor in Unnao died after allegedly being beaten up by the police for reportedly violating lockdown norms. Faisal’s autopsy report revealed over a dozen contusions on his body. Three policemen were booked for murder. Faisal, who sold vegetables in a

mandi (market), was picked up by police for allegedly violating the partial COVID-19 curfew enforced in the State.

In another case, a special police team (SWAT) in Ambedkar Nagar was booked for murder after a man from Azamgarh died in police custody after being allegedly being picked up for questioning. His family alleged police tortured him.

An FIR was lodged at the Akbarpur Police Station in Ambedkar Nagar under Sections 302 (murder) and 364 (abducting for murder) of the Indian Penal Code against Devendra Pal Singh, SWAT team in-charge, and against unidentified police personnel. The victim Ziyauddin was from Hazipur Kudrat in Powai area of neighbouring district Azamgarh.

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Shahbuddin, Ziyauddin’s brother, alleged that on March 24 the latter left home to go to a relative’s place but, on the way, members of the SWAT team picked him up and tortured him, causing his death. Ziyauddin was “beaten to death,” alleged Shahbuddin in his police complaint, accusing the police team of murder. Police had said that during questioning, Ziyauddin complained of feeling unwell and was admitted to the district hospital where he died.

In November, 2020, a female Sub-Inspector and a male constable were booked for alleged murder after a journalist was found dead on a railway track in Unnao. The police, however, said that prima facie it appeared to be a case of suicide. A case was lodged under Section 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code after the family of journalist Suraj Pandey alleged that he was murdered by the two police personnel.

In another case, which still lingers on, an IPS officer was accused of murder by the family of a businessman in Mahoba. The family of businessman Indrakant Tripathi — who died last September after being found shot in his car days after he had accused 2014-batch IPS officer Manilal Patidar of threatening to eliminate him — had lodged an FIR against Mr. Patidar, then the district police chief, under murder and conspiracy. However, following a probe by a Special Investigation Team, the charges were downgraded to abetment of suicide. Mr. Patidar, meanwhile, continued to evade arrest and his pleas for anticipatory bail were rejected by the Allahabad High Court. In May, the HC directed the agency investigating the cases against Mr. Patidar to file an affidavit explaining what efforts were made by them to arrest him after tracing his whereabouts when his anticipatory bail applications were rejected. However, he is yet to be arrested still.

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