Police encounters: 9-fold increase in J&K, over 4 times rise in Assam in 2021-22

Jammu and Kashmir has seen nine-fold increase in police encounters in 2021-22 — highest in the country — followed by Assam where such cases rose by over four times against the previous year, Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

The rise in police encounters in Assam comes at a time when Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has given the state police "full operational liberty" to fight against 'criminals'. And in Jammu and Kashmir, the jump in such cases have been reported in the backdrop of the now Union Territory losing its special status and statehood after the revocation of Article 370.

Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said on Tuesday that there were 82 cases of police encounters in 2020-21 in the country and the number has gone up to 151 in 2021-22.

According to the data tabled in Lok Sabha, there were just five police encounters in Jammu and Kashmir in 2020-21 and such cases have been increased to 45 in 2021-22.

Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh had 16 and six encounters in 2020-21 respectively, and numbers have come down in 2021-22 with the former registering 11 cases and the latter recording just two such cases, according to data.

There were just four police encounters in Assam in 2020-21 and the number has gone up to 18 in 2021-22, the data says.

Among other states, there were 24 police encounters in Chhattisgarh in 2020-21 and the number has risen to 30 in 2021-22.

Similarly, in Jharkhand, there were five encounters in 2020-21 and number has increased to nine in 2021-22, the data showed.

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According to the data, there were 1,940 cases of custodial deaths in the country in 2020-21 and the number has gone up to 2,544 in 2021-22.

Uttar Pradesh has registered 451 custodial death cases in 2020-21 and the number has gone up to 501 in 2021-22, it said.

West Bengal has seen a substantial increase in custodial death cases — 185 cases in 2020-21 to 257 in 2021-22.

Bihar had registered 159 custodial death cases in 2020-21 and the number has gone to 237 in 2021-22.

Madhya Pradesh had recorded 163 such cases and the number has risen to 201.

Similarly Maharashtra registered 143 custodial death cases in 2020-21 and the number has gone up to 197 in 2021-22.

With PTI inputs