SP upset over dacoit’s encounter, says Yogi
Earlier, on Saturday evening, Congress MP from Raebareli, Rahul Gandhi, had also raised concerns over the encounter of Mangesh Yadav and alleged that there was no rule of law in BJP-ruled states.
LUCKNOW: The war of words between Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav over the Sultanpur encounter has escalated, with Yogi stating on Sunday that the SP is upset because a dacoit was killed in a police encounter.
Earlier, raising concerns over the encounter, Akhilesh had alleged that the deceased, Mangesh Yadav, was killed due to his caste.
Addressing a gathering in Ambedkar Nagar while inaugurating development projects worth ₹1,231 crore, the chief minister said, “You all must have seen that when a mafia or dacoit is killed in a police encounter, they are rattled. Tell me, if the dacoit killed in the encounter had succeeded in his robbery, what if he had killed a customer at that jewellery shop? Will the Samajwadi Party be able to bring his life back?”
“The customers could have been from any caste—Yadav, Dalit, or any other. There is a tradition of giving ornaments and jewellery in marriages, and people visit jeweller shops to buy them. What if the customers and jewellers had been robbed and the dacoits had escaped? These same people would have started shouting that there is lawlessness in the state. Now that action has been taken against these dacoits and they were killed in a police encounter, the Samajwadi Party is feeling bad,” Yogi added.
Earlier, on Saturday evening, Congress MP from Raebareli, Rahul Gandhi, had also raised concerns over the encounter of Mangesh Yadav and alleged that there was no rule of law in BJP-ruled states. “In BJP-ruled states, the very people responsible for implementing the law and constitution are violating them. The encounter of Mangesh Yadav in Sultanpur has once again proved that the BJP does not believe in the rule of law. The tears of Mangesh’s family are asking the whole country a question: Who will decide who lives and who dies—will it be the courts or the police?”
On 6th September, a day after Mangesh Yadav, a wanted criminal allegedly involved in a ₹1.5-crore robbery at a jewellery store in Sultanpur on August 28, was killed during treatment after being shot in an encounter with the police, a Samajwadi Party delegation, led by Leader of Opposition in the U.P. Legislative Council Lal Bihari Yadav, met with Mangesh’s family in Jaunpur.