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‘If police don’t fire, should they get shot instead?’: CM on encounters in UP
UP had become synonymous with insecurity, anarchy and mistrust, as more than 900 riots occurred in the state between 2012 and 2017: Yogi
LUCKNOW Days after the Allahabad high court came down heavily on the UP Police over frequent cases of shooting the accused in their legs during alleged encounters, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday said the police had been trained to make the “criminals understand in a language that they understood”.
“If the police don’t fire, should they get shot instead,” asked the CM while apprising chairmen of top pharma companies of the country on the law and order scenario in UP at the Pharma Conclave here.
“If criminals have the freedom to fire, then we have also given the police pistols and training to confront the criminals. The criminals should be dealt with in the language they understand,” said the CM.
Adityanath also apprised the who’s who of the pharma world about the law and order scenario in UP before the BJP came to power in 2017.
He said UP had become synonymous with insecurity, anarchy and mistrust, as more than 900 riots occurred in the state between 2012 and 2017.
The Allahabad high court on Friday came down heavily on the Uttar Pradesh Police over frequent cases of shooting the accused in their legs.
“Such act is not permissible in the eyes of law as the power of punishment to the accused is within the domain of judiciary and not in the domain of police. India is a democratic country. It has to be run as per the ethos and directions of the Constitution of India, which clearly distinguishes the role of legislature, executive and judiciary,” observed a bench of Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal.
As per the official data between March 2017 and December 2025, 10,990 accused persons were injured and 266 killed in police encounters — with 2025 recording the highest annual tally of injuries and deaths since 2017.
On the occasion, Adityanath also pointed out steps taken by the government to improve green cover in the state, along with development work. “A pharma park has been established in Lalitpur. Along with development work, we also take care of the environment,” he said.
