UP tops in atrocities by police, registers 236 cases between 2014 and 2016

As many as 236 cases of atrocities by police personnel were registered in Uttar Pradesh between 2014 and 2016, the highest in the country's total of 411 such cases during the same period, according to an official data.

Uttar Pradesh was followed by Delhi where 63 cases of atrocities by police personnel were registered in the same period. However, there has been no conviction so far in the cases registered during this period.

In September, a 38-year-old Apple store manager, who was in an SUV, was shot dead by a constable after he allegedly refused to stop his car in Lucknow.

A Special Investigation Team of the Uttar Pradesh police last week suggested in its report that constable Prashant Chowdhary had opened fire "without any provocation" at Apple executive Vivek Tiwari, leading to his death.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Uttar Pradesh registered 236 cases against police personnel for human rights violations between 2014 and 2016. During this period, a total of 411 such cases were lodged against police personnel in the country, with 57.4 per cent of them registered in Uttar Pradesh alone.

The conviction rate of such cases against police personnel is dismal as only three of them have been convicted from 2014 to 2016.

In 2014, 46 cases of human rights violations by the police personnel came to light in Uttar Pradesh out of which 39 were found to be false during the course of investigation. Seven police personnel were chargesheeted while three were convicted.

Uttar Pradesh accounted for 42.5 per cent of the 108 cases of atrocities by police personnel registered in the country in 2014.

In 2015, as many as 34 cases of atrocities were lodged against Uttar Pradesh police personnel out of which one case was found to be false while 19 personnel were chargesheeted. None of them have been convicted so far. In the same year, 94 such cases were lodged in the country, with the state accounting for 36.2 per cent of them.

Showing a steep rise, 156 cases of human rights violations by police personnel were registered in Uttar Pradesh. During investigation, 69 cases were fund to be false while 39 personnel chargesheeted. However, none of them have been convicted yet. The highest number of such cases in 2016 were registered in Uttar Pradesh, with the state accounting for 74.6 per cent of the total 209 human rights violations cases registered against police personnel in the country in the year.

The cases of human rights violations by police personnel include disappearance of persons, illegal detention or arrests, fake encounter killings, extortion, assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty, atrocities on scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, torture among others.