Why was the first encounter of a ‘hero’ done by tying him/her to a tree? Under whose rule did most fake encounters take place in UP?

New Delhi: Akshay Shinde, accused of raping two girls in a school in Badlapur, Maharashtra, died in a police encounter. Thane police said that accused Akshay Shinde snatched the police’s weapon and fired at the police in the car. Akshay Shinde was shot in the retaliatory firing by the police. he/she was admitted to the hospital in critical condition, but he/she died. Before this, recently, there was an encounter of Anuj Pratap Singh, who was carrying a bounty of Rs 1 lakh in the Sultanpur robbery case. After the encounters at both the places, politics has intensified in the country regarding this. How did the series of encounters start in the country? How did it come into practice? Know the whole story of the encounter.

The British did the first encounter in India

The first recorded encounter in the country was that of Alluri Sitaram Raju, the hero of the Rampa rebellion, in 1922, much before independence. he/she was killed by the police of the British Raj. This rebellion is also called the Manyam rebellion, which was a rebellion of tribes against the then British rule. This rebellion took place in Godavari district in Madras Presidency.
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The hero of Rampa was tied to a tree and shot at

The Rampa rebellion in Andhra Pradesh started in August 1922, which ended in May 1924 with the death of Raju in an encounter. At that time, the British police had to spend about 40 lakh rupees to catch Raju. After a search operation that lasted for several months, Raju was finally caught in the jungle of Andhra and tied to a tree. Then the police team killed him/her by firing bullets at him/her from a distance.
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3000 people were killed during Telangana Movement

Before independence, the Nizam of Hyderabad suppressed many movements and got police encounters done of people who rebelled against him/her. After independence in 1947, many movements took place in Andhra Pradesh for the formation of a separate Telangana state. According to many reports, the state government massacred the people involved in the Telangana movement with the help of the police. It is believed that 3,000 people were killed in police encounters. Encounters were a common trend from the 60s till the formation of Telangana. The word encounter was very much in discussion during the time when terrorism was flourishing in Punjab.

13 thousand encounters in 7 years of Yogi rule in UP

According to media reports, there have been 12,964 encounters in UP between March 20, 2017 and September 5, 2024. Out of these, 207 criminals were killed. 17 policemen also lost their lives in the encounter. On an average, one criminal was killed in an encounter every 13 days. For these seven years, Yogi Adityanath’s government has been in power in the state.

In the last 6 years, 813 people were killed in encounters in the country

According to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), in the last 6 years, 813 people were killed in encounters in India, that is, they were killed in police encounters. From April 2016 to 2022, on an average, one encounter was carried out every three days. Fewer cases of encounters were seen during the Corona period. It was 112 in 2019-20, which decreased to 82 in 2020-21. However, after this, there was an increase of 69.5 percent i.e. 139 cases in encounters.
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Earlier, encounters were heard in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Ghaziabad

According to Supreme Court advocate Anil Kumar Singh Srinet, encounter killing became more common in the 20th century. It was heard and seen more especially after the police encounters in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Ghaziabad. Most of the encounters were of underworld and ruthless killers. Later, there was an increase in them. Many of these encounters were fake encounters and many were mired in controversies. According to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the maximum number of fake encounters took place from 2002 to 2013.

Pending cases of encounter killing increased 5 times

In response to a question in the Rajya Sabha in March 2022, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai had informed that the pending cases of encounter were 25 in 2016-17, which increased five times i.e. to 124 by 2021-22. However, during these 7 years, there was also a decline in the cases of encounter.

More than 1,000 fake encounters between 2002 and 2013

According to NHRC, between 2002 and 2008, 440 cases of fake encounters came to light. Most of these occurred in UP (231), Rajasthan (33), Maharashtra (31), Delhi (26), Andhra Pradesh (22) and Uttarakhand (19). Whereas, between October 2009 and February 2013, the maximum number of 555 cases of fake or controversial encounters came to light. Of these too, most such encounters took place in UP (138), Manipur (62), Assam (52), West Bengal (35) and Jharkhand (30). Between 2002 and 2013, there were SP and BSP governments in UP.

Chhattisgarh has had the highest number of encounters in 7 years

From 2016 to 2022, the highest number of encounters took place in the Naxal-affected area of ​​Chhattisgarh. After this, 110 encounters were carried out in Uttar Pradesh, 79 in Assam, 52 in Jharkhand. Ladakh is the only state where no encounter took place in these years. Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Kerala are such states where very few encounters took place.

What is ‘Operation Langda’ in UP

According to media reports, a large number of encounters were carried out in a non-governmental mission in UP, called Operation Langda. Out of 8,472 encounters, 3,300 criminals were injured. That is, they were shot in their legs during the encounter. Later, encounters also started being referred to as shootout, khallas, etc.

Pradeep Sharma and Daya Nayak have the most number of encounters to their credit

Pradeep Sharma of Mumbai Police has the record of doing the most encounters, i.e. 312. Inspector Daya Nayak has the record of doing 83 encounters, Praful Bhosale has the record of doing 77, Ravindranath Angre has the record of doing 54, Sachin Waze has the record of doing 63 encounters and Vijay Salaskar has the record of doing 61 encounters. Movies like Aan, Ab Tak Chappan, Batla House, Encounter The Killing, Khaki and Singham have been made in Bollywood in the name of these police officers.

Most encounters in Pakistan are in Karachi

It is not that most encounters happen only in India. Encounters happen on a large scale in Pakistan too. According to a 2015 report by Human Rights Watch, 2,108 encounters took place in police encounters in Pakistan, which also involved 7 women and 6 children. Out of these encounters, the maximum 696 took place in Karachi. After this, the maximum encounters were carried out in Pakistan’s Punjab province, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 3,345 encounters took place in Pakistan between 2014 and 2018.
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Encounter is a violation of the right to life

Supreme Court advocate Anil Kumar Singh Srinet says that there is no mention of encounter or judicial killing in the Constitution. According to Article 21 of the Constitution, every person has the fundamental right to live. However, according to the Indian Penal Code, 1860, till now it has been said in section 96-106 that under certain circumstances, encounter cannot be kept in the category of crime. This law applies to every citizen of the country, whether it is police or common man. If someone loses his/her life in self-defense, then it will not come under the category of crime. Provided it is proved that there was no motive in the murder. The police also has the right to injure a criminal if he/she is running away or firing.

What guidelines has NHRC issued on encounters?

As per the 1997 guidelines of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), station houses in charge in all states and union territories must properly record encounter deaths.

• Immediate steps should be taken to investigate the facts and circumstances of the death of the accused.
• Since the police itself is involved in the encounter, get it investigated by an independent agency like the State CID.
• Such investigation should be completed within four months. Such cases should be heard quickly.
• In such cases, if found guilty, consideration should be given to providing compensation to the dependents of the deceased.
• In cognizable cases of unintentional murder, an FIR should be registered if a complaint is lodged against the police.
• Magisterial inquiry into all cases of deaths due to police action should be conducted within three months.
• The Senior Superintendent of Police/Superintendent of Police of the district should inform the NHRC about the encounter within 48 hours.