'Collapse of the rule of law in UP': Lawyers’ association condemns killings of ex-MP, brother

The statement from them comes at a time when politicians, except the BJP and its allies across the nation, have termed the assassinations ‘extrajudicial killings’

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: All India Lawyers’ Association for Justice has condemned the killings of Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf and called it the collapse of the rule of law in Uttar Pradesh. As many as three men fired at the two when they were under police escort and on their way to a hospital for medical examination.

Reacting to the lawlessness in UP, the lawyers’ association, in a statement said, “The televised coldblooded murder of these two, coming a few days after the extrajudicial murder of Atiq’s son, Asad and another person Ghulam, following which Chief Minister Yogi Adityanth lauded the special task force team that was involved in the killing, spells the collapse of law and order in the state of Uttar Pradesh.''

According to reports, the UP government has formed a three-member special judicial commission to probe the killing of the brothers.

What the statement says

The statement has also highlighted that the deceased failed to get protection despite approaching the Supreme Court a few days ago fearing their death in police custody. A division bench of justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi, on 28 March 2023, refused to entertain the petition reserving liberty to Atiq to move to the HC.

Ahmed, a former Samajwadi Party MP, and his brother were brought to Prayagraj for a court hearing in connection with the Umesh Pal murder case and were remanded in police custody. Further, the report also noted that as many as 10,900 police encounters have taken place in UP since Yogi assumed power in March 2017.

Of these encounters, 23,300 alleged criminals were arrested, 5,046 were injured and 183 were killed. “The extrajudicial killing and state impunity stands in the teeth of the judgement of the Supreme Court in the PUCL case, which held extrajudicial killings to be the anathema to the rule of law. Yet the Yogi government seeks to celebrate this illegality,” the statement reads. The lawyers also demanded proper action into the killings.