UP Police backs Apple worker death accused: Solidarity or abetting trigger-happy behaviour?

Illustration by ThePrint Team

Members of the UP police are allegedly raising funds for constable Prashant Chaudhary, who has been accused of shooting Apple executive Vivek Tewari in Lucknow.

ThePrint asks: UP Police backs Apple worker death accused- Solidarity or abetting trigger-happy behaviour?

Due to biased media reports, we don’t get to hear defence of accused

Neeraj Kumar
Former police commissioner, Delhi

Certain sections of society, who carry pre-conceived notions or biases with them, particularly about the police, make up their mind about an incident like this. They do this often without knowing or analysing the finer details of a case. Perhaps the police may not be at fault. People base their opinion largely on media reports that are often lopsided. They, therefore, do not get to hear the defence of the accused.

For instance, there was a shootout back in 1997 in the Connaught Place area in New Delhi. The police had information of a dreaded criminal called Mohd Yasin travelling in a car with tinted glasses. A car was spotted that matched the details given in the intelligence input. The number plate of the car matched with the information. The car was intercepted. But when the passengers didn’t stop, the police officers opened fire. Later it was found that the dreaded criminal wasn’t in the car. Instead, there were innocent people. The ACP and the police officers at the spot were sentenced for life and are still in prison. It was a case of mistaken identity with no mens rea. Such cases happen across the world when the police at the spot, in a given set of circumstances, take an incorrect decision and in the heat of the moment open fire. Unfortunately, since a precious life has been lost there is no one to hear the side of the story. In such situations, if their colleagues—fellow policemen—come forward and gather financial help, we should not fault them. Neither should their action be linked to a prevailing perception of ‘trigger-happiness’.

Yogi’s statements give legitimacy to unlawful acts of police in UP

Sudhindra Bhadoria
Leader, BSP

This particular act of killing the Apple executive by a UP police constable cannot be looked at in isolation. This kind of atmosphere has been created in UP ever since Yogi Adityanath came to power. This was only the climax. Statements by Yogi Adityanath like: “criminals will be jailed or killed in encounters” is responsible for this atmosphere. This gives a certain legitimacy to the unlawful acts of the police. Even if a crime has been committed, the police don’t have a license to kill. There is due protocol that must be followed. The behaviour of the UP police with the poor and the middle class is particularly condemnable.

Be it ‘love jihad’, Romeo squads or the spate of lynchings in the past, the law and order condition in UP has never been worse. Law minister Brijesh Pathak has claimed that high-level officials were trying to manipulate and hide things in connection with the death of Vivek Tiwari. So, on the one hand, the UP CM gives a free pass to the police to “jail or kill in encounters” and on the other hand, the law minister makes such statements thus demoralising the police. The BJP government is clueless and directionless as to what it wants.

Blatant lie that government and police are protecting accused

Rajesh Mishra
MLA, BJP

The news about police officers raising funds for the accused constable, Prashant Chaudhary, is completely made up. Even if there are 2-3 odd members of the police who are pretending to show solidarity, it means nothing. I can’t comment on the specifics of this particular case, but I know for a fact that we will not let the accused walk away scot-free. The UP government is doing everything it can to ensure justice in the matter. The deputy CM and law minister visited the victim’s family and are keeping in touch. The victim’s wife has met CM Yogi Adityanath as well. We are standing with the family at this difficult time.

As far as rumours of the government or police body protecting the accused are concerned, these are blatant lies being peddled to defame us. The opposition could be behind this. I have only one message for our opposition members—they must not use this as an opportunity to score political points. This is a very tough time for the family of the victim. We must do everything in their capacity to help them. This is not the time to play political games; they will have plenty of other opportunities to do so.

In UP, the police and corrupt government work hand in glove

Rajeev Rai
Spokesperson, Samajwadi Party

The police can’t carry out encounters on their own volition. More often than not, there is a direct commandment by those sitting in office. The encounter problem doesn’t run bottom to top but is a top-to-bottom issue. The Yogi Adityanath government is by far the most corrupt government in UP. There are so many criminal cases pending against the CM, the deputy CM and many members of the government. Keeping that in mind, they do not have any moral right or authority to dictate the law and order of the land.

It is the government which gives diktats to the police body stating how many encounters they should aim for in a certain period of time. So, if ten encounters have been carried out by the police at the behest of the government, then if even one has been executed without the government’s orders, the government feels obliged to protect them. Or else, they will be exposed by the police. Thus, the police and the government work hand in glove. Everyone is unsafe under the Yogi rule. Whether it is a Pandey ji, Chaudhary ji or Tiwari ji. The police officer responsible for this killing must be prosecuted.

Police are well within their rights to raise funds for accused

S.K. Sharma
Former DGP, Punjab

We will need to wait and see what the investigation establishes in this case. However, at no point can the constable claim that he was provoked to fire at the individual. No amount of provocation can justify the firing. That being said, as far as raising funds are concerned, they are well within their rights to do so. The accused should be able to hire a suitable advocate and if that requires funds, the policemen can help him out. Everyone has the right to a legal recourse and so this is only fair.

The case of Vivek Tewari being shot was not an encounter. But one can’t deny that encounters are a prevalent menace in the police establishments of many states. The greatest problem is lack of discipline and training. Individuals across industries face such a hectic work environment, and it is only worse for police officers. They have to be trained on how to deal with stress and cope with it without losing their tempers. Overcommitment to their jobs and long training hours are some of the issues that add to this stress. High level of training is missing in these forces because we lack the human power.

In UP, cops have been given clear instructions to pull the trigger whenever required

Ananya Bhardwaj
Special Correspondent, ThePrint

Over 1,900 encounters in the last 18 months, over 50 alleged gangsters dead and counting.

UP has become the perfect example of a trigger-happy police force that has been given a licence to kill small-time criminals, sometimes motivated by political rivalries and then wear it as a badge of honour in the name of “crime control”.

On Saturday, Vivek Tiwari, an Apple executive was allegedly shot dead by a police constable in Lucknow, after he reportedly tried to evade a security check. While the constable claimed that he fired in self defence after Vivek, who was in his car, tried to run him over, Vivek’s colleague, also a witness said that the cops forced them to stop and opened fire after they refused.

Till now, it was only small-time dormant criminals, who were becoming victims of these armed men in uniform, but now things have gone too far, with police even attacking civilians. Still, there are no explanations sought, with UP police backing their men.

In UP, the cops have been given clear instructions to pull the trigger, whenever required—something that is leading to cops turning extortionists and contract killers in uniform, in many cases.

What is needed in UP now is to build a force that is aware of its duties and moreover, its responsibilities. There is a clear demarcation between being a tough force and going on a killing spree.

A visit to any police station in western UP will give one a sense of how emboldened are the trigger-happy cops. On the day ThePrint visited Kairana police station to report a story, officials were busy compiling a dossier on an alleged gangster, with one officer telling another that he “would be next”, and the other replying, “That’s good, he’s irritated us a lot.” The two then exchanged a smile.

By Fatima Khan, journalist at ThePrint. You can follow her on twitter @khanthefatima.