LUCKNOW, NOV 3: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Rajnath Singh's directive to ruthlessly gun down Naxalites will trigger another round of fake encounters, fear senior officials.Senior police officers, who are used to such commands and have seen the outcome, minced no words in saying that these would lead to yet another round of fake encounters as district chiefs will direct their subordinates to ``deliver results'' to save their skins.``Tone up the law and order situation within 15 days. If the criminals kill one person, you should kill four criminals. I do not want excuses, and any officer who cannot tone up the law and order should leave the district voluntarily,'' Rajnath Singh had said after taking command of the state.Police officials reminded that a similar directive was given by Kalyan Singh when the law and order situation deteriorated in August 1998. ``You do the job and I will be there to save you from any eventuality,'' Kalyan has said at a meeting with IPS officials.Within 50 days of Kalyan's statement, 210 ``criminals'' were reported killed. Unofficial sources put the toll at 300. Most of the dead are believed to be innocent people who fell to police bullets just because the chief minister wanted ``results''.Some of the glaring cases in the killing spree: Sanjay Jaiswal, a minor, was picked up by the police from Rae Bareli district and announced dead on July 31, 1998. No case had been registered against him. The police allegedly lodged four fake cases under the Narcotics Act when his death raised dust.In another alleged fake encounter, Rajendra Kumar Sonker of same district was reported dead. No criminal case had been filed against him.Four Muslim youth - Salim, Nafis, Sajia and Nanha - were picked up by the police in Muzzafarnagar district and later found dead. While three of the men had no charges against them, one was facing an insignificant case.During the same period, parents of victims lodged complaints with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The NHRC indicted the UP police in many cases and directed the state government to pay compensation.The tone of Rajnath's directives are almost the same as Kalyan's. The only difference is that Rajnath has said he will not judge the law and order situation on the basis of statistics but on how protected people feel.``Don't try to convince me with figures. Create an atmosphere where the people feel secure,'' Rajnath recently told police officials.``But this message is hard to go down to the rank of inspectors and constables. We are bound to witness a repeat of 1998, when many innocents were killed,'' said a senior official.Reacting to Rajnath's statement, Samajwadi Party state chief Ram Sharan Das warned that the state should once again be prepared to witness the killing of innocents.``While the high and mighty are left untouched, the poor will fall prey to police bullets. If the government really wants to improve the law and order situation, why isn't it beginning with the Council of ministers? It is an open secret that 33 out of 70 ministers inducted in the state government in 1998 have criminal records, many among them are history-sheeters,'' he said.
