At least 20 families in a western Uttar Pradesh village have pasted notices on their doors saying their houses are for sale, claiming they want to leave the state because of harassment by Yogi Adityanath’s police.

Ironically, Adityanath had during the 2017 Assembly poll campaign alleged that people were fleeing their homes in western Uttar Pradesh for fear of criminals from a particular community, and promised to end the atmosphere of fear if voted to power.

Residents who want to sell their homes in village Gangnauli, in the Baraut area of Baghpat district, say the police have been booking their family members in false cases to meet arrest targets.

These residents are from multiple castes and communities, and make up nearly a fifth of the village’s 100-odd families.

“The police have terrorised the area. Adityanath had promised us security but as chief minister, he has been torturing people on the plea of maintaining law and order,” Satveer Rathi, husband of village panchayat chief Sudeshna Rathi, told reporters on Thursday.

“The police picked up my son Praveen from our fields on August 30 and later claimed he had been arrested from the highway while trying to escape. They shot and injured him, then framed him in a false case claiming they had seized a country-made pistol from him.”

Rathi added: “This has happened with many families in the area. We have written to the chief minister several times to protect us but he has ignored our appeal.”
Baraut circle officer Alok Singh dismissed the allegations as “false”.

“There are five cases against Praveen. One of his brothers, Pramod, is also a criminal and is in hiding. Another brother, Ravi, is lodged in Agra jail and is awaiting trial,” Singh said.

He said Praveen faced robbery charges; Ravi was an accused in an attempt-to-murder case; and Pramod was a rowdy facing charges of assault and violence.
Rathi claimed that all the cases against his sons were false.

“The police want to frame every youth of the area. We have come to know that each inspector has been set a target to arrest 20 youths,” another villager said, requesting anonymity.

“This is because we don’t support the BJP in elections.”

Gangnauli falls under Chhaprauli Assembly constituency, which has been voting for the Rashtriya Lok Dal since 2002. However, the BJP has been winning the Lok Sabha constituency, Baghpat, since 2014.

Allegations of random arrests to meet targets have come also from a few other places in Baghpat, Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts, all in western Uttar Pradesh. So far, the allegations have not reflected any communal or caste angle.