Asaduddin Owaisi on Bahraich Encounter: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday (17 October) criticized the Uttar Pradesh government over the Bahraich encounter. Owaisi questioned the action of the Uttar Pradesh police. He also mentioned Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's 'Thoko Denge' policy.

According to the police, the accused were trying to flee to Nepal, which borders Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich district. Reacting to the encounter, Owaisi said if the police had enough evidence, they should have tried to secure legal punishment for the accused instead of resorting to extrajudicial measures.

Owaisi wrote in a post on X, 'It is not difficult to know the truth of the 'encounter' carried out by the police of the accused of Bahraich violence. Everyone knows about Yogi's 'Thoko Denge' policy. If the police had so much evidence, then efforts would have been made to get legal punishment for the accused.'

How did the encounter happen?

According to Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) Prashant Kumar, the incident took place when the police were taking the five accused to recover weapons near the Indo-Nepal border. Kumar was quoted by ANI as saying, "When the police were taking the five arrested accused to recover weapons near the Indo-Nepal border, both the accused tried to escape."

He said, 'As soon as they tried to escape, shots were fired. During this, Mohammad Sarfaraz and Mohammad Talib were injured. Abdul Hameed, Faheem, and Abdul Afzal were arrested. A total of five accused were arrested. The situation is under control.

Akhilesh also raised questions.

Opposition leaders including Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav have questioned the UP government over this incident. They alleged that the Yogi Adityanath-led government is carrying out encounters to hide its failures.