FRIDAY-SPOTLIGHT: Fake encounters by UP police
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BBC: India probe into 'fake' killing
On-line at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6949194.stm

THE TRIBUNE: UP police taped in fake encounter
On-line at: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070816/main2.htm
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BBC: India probe into 'fake' killing
16 August 2007
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The government in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has ordered a
probe into an alleged extra judicial killing of a man which was shown
on television.

A news channel broadcast footage on Wednesday of a young man being
gunned down by police last September in a crowded area in Allahabad
city.

The man, Pintu Mishra, was described by the police as a small-time
criminal.

Security forces in India are often blamed for carrying out "fake
encounters" or extra-judicial killings.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has ordered a investigation
into the killing of Pintu Mishra after a news channel showed footage
of him being shot by police.

The footage showed Mishra volunteering to surrender and raising his
hands in the air and saying that he had no arms on him.

Moments later, he is hit by bullets and begins running and collapses
soon after in a pool of blood.

It is not clear how the footage surfaced nearly a year after the
incident, and who shot it.

Uttar Pradesh police chief Vikram Singh said that the footage "looked
like a fake encounter".

"The government has taken the issue very seriously and the guilty
policemen will not be spared," he said.

Human rights groups in Uttar Pradesh have protested against "fake
encounters" after the footage was shown on national television.

"Such encounters are a shame on democracy," award winning social
worker, Sandeep Pandey said.

"These are a clear violation of human rights," he said.

On-line at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6949194.stm

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The TRIBUNE: UP police taped in fake encounter
The Tribune, India
Shahira Naim

Lucknow, 15 August: Promptly responding to a news channel's broadcast
of live footage of a gruesome fake encounter in the posh Civil Lines
area of Allahabad last year, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati
ordered a CB-CID probe to bring the guilty policemen to book.

Director General of Police Vikram Singh confirmed that the Chief
Minister had ordered a CB-CID probe and has directed the
investigating agency to submit its report within 30 days. The
original footage being broadcast has also been sought to become part
of the investigation.

The DGP who viewed the tapes admitted that prima facie it looked like
a fake encounter. ''The government has taken the issue very seriously
and the guilty policemen would not be spared," underlined Singh.
A sever indictment of the state's police had come from the National
Human Rights Commission as recently as on 26 July 2007 while
investigating yet another fake encounter carried out by the police in
Sultanpur on 12 February this year.
Calling for a CBI enquiry the NHRC had asked the UP police not take
law in its own hands. The NHRC had recommended an investigation from
the central agency as it had noted that local police would not be
independent as senior officers of the rank of SSP and DSP were
involved.
The video tape of the Allahabad encounter being shown by a national
channels clearly depicts how a petty criminal Pintu Mishra was chased
by a posse of policemen for about two kilometers and shot dead at
Civil Lines on 17 September 2006 despite a wounded Mishra raising his
hands as a gesture to surrender.

The sequence of events as narrated by the police at that point of
time had said that during a routine checking of vehicles registration
numbers and license two men riding an unnumbered Hero Honda Glamour
motorcycle had been spotted near the Central Bank at the main Civil
Lines crossing.

The official version handed out by the police at that point was that
when they tried to stop them the pillion rider hurled a crude bomb at
the police picket severing head constable Ashok Pandey's torso.
Constable Jai Prakash escaped with minor injuries. The pillion rider
also fell down with the impact and shrapnel injuries.

Taking advantage of the people running helter skelter the other
culprit now being identified as Jiten Mishra, dumped the motorcycle
and tried to escape on foot.

The remaining members of the police team had given him a chase and
shot him down some two kilometers away. The police version then had
claimed that he had been shot down, as he had hurled another bomb
injuring constable Ashok Sharma.

However, in the video footage it plainly shows that the man was
unarmed and requesting the chasing policemen to allow him to
surrender.

Speaking to a news channel the then SP City R.P.S. Yadav had claimed
that the two motor-cycle born criminals had come to kill a major
criminal Sujit Singh Birwa of Varanasi who was lodged in Allahabad
jail and was to appear in court that day. "It is likely that the two
motorcycle-born men were member of his rival Babloo Mishra's gang who
had come to eliminate him", Yadav had said. .

Another case of police encounter was reported from Bulandshahr this
morning where a criminal was shot dead by the police at Meerut
highway, about 12 km from Bulandshahr.
According to the SSP Sujeet Pandey four criminals, who were aboard a
looted truck coming from Muzaffarnagar were intercepted in Gulabathi
area. While, one of them was shot dead in the police firing, other
three managed to escape.
Meanwhile, on 26 July NHRC had observed "the job of the police is to
apprehend criminals and bring them to book. If the police
transgresses its limits and takes the law in its own hands, the
security of the citizen is seriously jeopardized. Merely because a
person is perceived to be a dreaded criminal and threat to society,
the Police can have no justification to deprive him of his life
otherwise than in accordance with the procedure established by law".

The Commissions' observation came while dealing with the case of yet
another fake encounter in Uttar Pradesh. The Commission has also
asked the State authorities to get the case investigated by CBI.
The incident of fake encounter involved Suraj Singh, who was picked
up by a team of SOG, Sultanpur, on February 12, 2007. Suraj brother
Chandan sent a fax message to the NHRC the same evening expressing
apprehension that the police may kill his brother in a fake encounter.

Subsequently on 13 and 14 February NHRC received two separate
messages - one from SSP, Lucknow and the other from STF, UP giving
the information that Suraj Singh had been killed in an encounter with
the police at Lucknow- Rai Bareilly Road, on 13 February. Both the
messages claimed that Suraj Singh had been involved in a train
robbery in which two constables were killed.

As the NHRC had received the message from the deceased's brother
before the alleged time of encounter the circumstances raised serious
doubts about the authenticity of the police version.
A team of officials of the Investigation Division headed by DIG
(NHRC) conducted an on-the-spot investigation at Lucknow, Sultanpur
and Faizabad from 26 February to 2 March that has come out with a
number of conclusions and recommendations.

On-line at: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070816/main2.htm