<p>Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) president <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/akhileshyadav">Akhilesh Yadav</a> on Tuesday claimed that the UP government was carrying out ‘fake encounters’ on the basis of ‘caste’ in a bid to ‘assert’ its authority.</p><p>Speaking to reporters here, Akhilesh, a day after the killing of one Ravi Yadav, who was wanted in connection with a murder case and carried a cash reward of Rs one lakh on his head, in an alleged encounter with the police in Jaunpur district, said that his team conducted an analysis of the encounters during the BJP regime and found that members of some specific communities had been the target of the encounters.</p><p>He claimed that Muslims topped the list of encounters followed by the members of the <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/brahmins">Brahmin</a> community, who occupied the second spot. On the third spot were members of ‘Pasi’ and Yadav communities, he added.</p>.Caste and crisis of fraternity.<p>The SP leader said that ‘fake encounters’ was the ‘biggest issue’ in the state today but the government did not want to discuss it.</p><p>He said that the cops, who were involved in carrying out ‘fake encounters’ , fell victim to ‘mental disorders’ owing to ‘self-reproach’. ‘’The state has failed to attract investments owing to fake encounters,’’ the SP leader added.</p><p>BJP leaders, however, rejected the allegations and termed Akhilesh’s remarks as indicative of his party’s support to ‘criminals’. ‘’SP leaders feel the pain when criminals are killed in the encounters,’’ said state BJP spokesman Rakesh Tripathi.</p><p>Former UP DGP Prashant Kumar had also earlier denied that caste or religion had any role in the encounters.</p><p>As many as 289 ‘dreaded criminals’ had been killed and over 11 thousand injured in more than 17 thousand ‘encounters during the past nine years of BJP rule. Eighteen policemen also lost their lives during the encounters.</p>
<p>Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) president <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/akhileshyadav">Akhilesh Yadav</a> on Tuesday claimed that the UP government was carrying out ‘fake encounters’ on the basis of ‘caste’ in a bid to ‘assert’ its authority.</p><p>Speaking to reporters here, Akhilesh, a day after the killing of one Ravi Yadav, who was wanted in connection with a murder case and carried a cash reward of Rs one lakh on his head, in an alleged encounter with the police in Jaunpur district, said that his team conducted an analysis of the encounters during the BJP regime and found that members of some specific communities had been the target of the encounters.</p><p>He claimed that Muslims topped the list of encounters followed by the members of the <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/brahmins">Brahmin</a> community, who occupied the second spot. On the third spot were members of ‘Pasi’ and Yadav communities, he added.</p>.Caste and crisis of fraternity.<p>The SP leader said that ‘fake encounters’ was the ‘biggest issue’ in the state today but the government did not want to discuss it.</p><p>He said that the cops, who were involved in carrying out ‘fake encounters’ , fell victim to ‘mental disorders’ owing to ‘self-reproach’. ‘’The state has failed to attract investments owing to fake encounters,’’ the SP leader added.</p><p>BJP leaders, however, rejected the allegations and termed Akhilesh’s remarks as indicative of his party’s support to ‘criminals’. ‘’SP leaders feel the pain when criminals are killed in the encounters,’’ said state BJP spokesman Rakesh Tripathi.</p><p>Former UP DGP Prashant Kumar had also earlier denied that caste or religion had any role in the encounters.</p><p>As many as 289 ‘dreaded criminals’ had been killed and over 11 thousand injured in more than 17 thousand ‘encounters during the past nine years of BJP rule. Eighteen policemen also lost their lives during the encounters.</p>