In a significant development on Tuesday, the Uttar Pradesh Police publicly admonished the Amnesty International India for placing wrong data related to those killed in police encounters in the last one year. The UP Police also warned the human rights body of a ‘better researched’ legal notice.
The UP Police’s warning came in response to a tweet (now deleted) by Amnesty India, which claimed that ‘over 900 people’ had been killed in police encounters in Uttar Pradesh ‘between March 2017 and January 2018.’
Reacting angrily to the Amnesty’s tweet, the UP Police wrote, “Dear @AIIndia we beg ur pardon but there’s a major human error in ur numbers, unless U have redefined D injured & dead as alike! With due respect to the 37 dead V request you to respect the ones alive & Not declare them dead! We’ll make sure our legal notice is better researched.”
Dear @AIIndia we beg ur pardon but there’s a major human error in ur numbers, unless U have redefined D injured & dead as alike! With due respect to the 37 dead V request you to respect the ones alive & Not declare them dead! We’ll make sure our legal notice is better researched https://t.co/Wi6wnr2u8w
— UP POLICE (@Uppolice) February 6, 2018
In its subsequent tweets, the Amnesty conceded its error and said that its figure of 900 ‘referred to both deaths and injuries.’ It said, “Correction: This tweet incorrectly stated that over 900 people had been killed in police encounters in Uttar Pradesh between March 2017 and Jan 2018. The figure actually referred to both deaths and injuries.”
Correction: This tweet incorrectly stated that over 900 people had been killed in police encounters in Uttar Pradesh between March 2017 and Jan 2018. The figure actually referred to both deaths and injuries.
— Amnesty India (@AIIndia) February 6, 2018
The human rights body followed it up with another tweet, that included almost everything it stated in its original tweet except that it clearly added that ‘over 900 people have been killed or injured’ in the past one year.
Over 900 people have been killed or injured in police encounters in UP between March 2017 and Jan 2018. The National Human Rights Commission says UP police are “misusing their power in the light of an undeclared endorsement given by the higher ups”. https://t.co/sVgxLyuQj2
— Amnesty India (@AIIndia) February 6, 2018
Janta Ka Reporter had recently reported how Uttar Pradesh Police had reportedly carried out 1142 encounters between 20 March 2017 and 31 January 2018 killing over 35 alleged criminals while injuring 265 others.