In UP, on average, 5 encounters every day under Yogi Adityanath’s rule

Meerut Zone, according to the government, recorded the highest number of encounter deaths – 97 “notorious criminals” were killed, 3,513 were injured, and 8,921 arrested in 4,813 encounters, the government said. In these operations, 477 policemen were injured, and two policemen were killed, it added.

Varanasi Zone came second with the killing of 29 criminals in 1,292 encounters, and Agra Zone third with 24 killings in 2,494 encounters.

In Varanasi Zone, the government said, 2,426 criminals were arrested, and 907 were injured. Also, 104 policemen were injured.

In Agra Zone, 5,845 criminals were arrested, and 968 were injured. A total of 62 policemen were also injured in the encounters, the government said.

This was followed by Bareilly Zone (21 killed in 2,222 encounters), Lucknow Zone (20 killed in 971 encounters), Ghaziabad Commissionerate (18 killed in 789 encounters) – the highest among all Commissionerates; Kanpur Zone (12 killed in 791 encounters), Lucknow Commissionerate ( 12 killed in 147 encounters), Prayagraj Zone ( 11 killed in 643 encounters), Agra Commissionerate (10 killed in 489 encounters), Gautam Buddha Nagar Zone (9 killed in 1,144 encounters), Gorakhpur Zone (8 killed in 699 encounters), Varanasi Commissionerat (8 killed in 146 encounters), Prayagraj Commissionerate ( 6 killed in 150 encounters), and Kanpur Commissionerate ( 4 killed in 253 encounters).

The government’s detailed list of encounter numbers comes nearly a week after the state witnessed 35 encounters between May 6 and May 7 that left three dead and 35 injured.

The sequence of events in most of these shootings was similar — the suspects fired at police, tried to flee, and were shot in the leg in retaliatory fire.

In January, the Allahabad High Court said that such encounters had “become a routine feature” in Uttar Pradesh and were being executed to “please senior officers or to teach a lesson to the accused”.

Hearing bail pleas filed by three persons arrested after being shot in the leg, the bench of Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal stated, “This Court is frequently confronted with cases where, even in matters involving petty offences such as theft, the police indiscriminately resort to firing by projecting the incident as a police encounter.”