Bullets with bullets: UP must reconsider its approach to police encounters

One of the key reasons why UP has traditionally struggled in attracting corporate interest has been the shoddy state of law and order in the state

Uttar Pradesh will kick off a two-day investor summit on Wednesday. Preparations have been in full swing with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath taking part in as many as six roadshows. He has met some of the biggest names in corporate India and has tried to understand why businesses have typically stayed away from investing in Uttar Pradesh. Mr Adityanath is quite upbeat about the outcome of the investor summit in the several rounds of media interviews that he has given over the last few days. He claims that as many as 14 policy reforms have been notified already and expects no less than 700 memorandums of understanding to be signed during the summit. These are all very reassuring signals, especially for a state that is the biggest in terms of population, and can have a salutary effect on India’s overall growth rate if it does justice to its potential. 

However, one of the key reasons why Uttar Pradesh has traditionally struggled in attracting corporate interest has been the shoddy state of law and order in the state. National Crime Records Bureau data show that Uttar Pradesh is among the top states no matter what type of crime one looks at. The Samajwadi Party-led government’s tenure was considered particularly poor in this regard and it was expected that the landslide victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party in March 2017 would bring about considerable change. That hope, however, has not materialised. In fact, things have become decidedly worse with the Yogi Adityanath government approaching the rising crime graph by justifying police “encounters”. Just a few days ago, the chief minister informed the state’s Legislative Council that in the first 10 months of his rule 40 criminals had been killed in 1,200 encounters in the state. That would imply three encounters per day. Over 200 police officials, too, are reported to have been hurt in the process. 

What makes this development particularly alarming is the approving attitude of the chief minister, who in his efforts to rid society of fear, claims he will counter bullets with bullets. Mr Adityanath has clarified that these encounters are not fake and has promised that they will continue. When Opposition leaders raised concerns about the growing impunity of police action and the lack of due process, making many of these deaths appear as “extra-judicial killings”, the chief minister warned them not to show any mercy towards criminals as doing so would undermine democracy. The National Human Rights Commission has already questioned the state government and correctly warned that the chief minister’s statement was tantamount to giving the police a free hand and it could result in abuse of power. The truth is this is not the way a civilised society goes about reducing crime. In fact, one of Mr Adityanath’s predecessors, Mayawati, and his counterpart in Bihar, Nitish Kumar, have shown how rapid improvements in policing can take place without necessarily turning officials into trigger-happy encounter specialists. Mr Adityanath will do well to remember that investors will not be particularly enthused by his “bullets with bullets” strategy.