Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday slammed the BJP government’s in the state over the alleged fake encounter in Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur saying the law and the Constitution are being floater by those who have the responsibility to enforce them and a professional police force like STF is being used as a gang by the BJP governments in the states.
He also demanded that all the suspicious encounters in Uttar Pradesh should be investigated without any impartiality
In a post in X, formerly Twitter, Rahul Gandhi said, “In the BJP ruled states, the ‘law and constitution’ are being flouted by those who have the responsibility to enforce them.”
The Congress Mzp from Rae Bareli said, the encounter of Mangesh Yadav in Sultanpur has once again proved that BJP does not believe in the ‘rule of law’.
“The tears of Mangesh’s family are asking a question to the whole country – who will live and who will not, will this be decided by the court or the police?” Rahul Gandhi asked.
Slamming the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, he said, “A professional force like the STF is being run like a ‘criminal gang’ under the BJP government, on which the silence of the central government is their clear consent to this ‘Thoko Niti’.”
“Dozens of encounters of UP STF are under question. Has any action been taken against any of those officers till date? After all, who is protecting them and why?” Rahul Gandhi asked.
Taking a jibe at the BJP, he said that “touching the Constitution in front of cameras is just a pretense when your own governments are openly tearing it to pieces”.
“All the suspicious encounters in Uttar Pradesh should be investigated impartially and justice should be done. Blood stains on the uniform must be cleaned,” he demanded.
His remarks came after the encounter of Mangesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur by the STF came under scanner.
The killing of Mangesh Yadav by the Special Task Force of Uttar Pradesh police on September 5 has triggered a political storm in the state. Opposition parties have called it a “fake encounter”.
Earlier Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav accused the police of having the impunity to kill Mangesh Yadav merely because of his caste background while sparing the lives of other accused persons in the dacoity case belonging to other communities, including dominant castes.
In the early hours of September 5, the UP STF shot dead Mangesh Yadav in an alleged “encounter” and termed him as one of the main accused in the Sultanpur jewellery shop dacoity case.