Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh: The Allahabad High Court recently came down heavily on Uttar Pradesh police over the growing practice of Uttar Pradesh police shooting the accused in their legs and later claiming it as an encounter, Bar and Bench reported.

An order passed by Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal on Wednesday, January 28, directed the Director General of Police (DGP) as well as the State’s Additional Chief Secretary (Home) to appear before it through video conference on Friday to discuss the concern, noting that the practice has become a police routine.

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The court said that the action is obviously done to please superior officers or to teach the accused a so-called lesson by way of punishment, adding that they are wholly impermissible, as the power to punish lies exclusively within the domain of the Courts and not with the police.

“India being a democratic State governed by the rule of law, the functions of the Executive, the Legislature, and the Judiciary are distinct and well-defined, and any encroachment by the police into the judicial domain cannot be countenanced,” the court stated.

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The court further lamented that some police officers may be misusing their authority to attract the attention of higher officers or to create an impression of public sympathy by portraying incidents as police encounters.