Firing

20 Dec 2019

In power

BJP — Uttar Pradesh

Acted

Police, Uttar Pradesh

Deaths in Uttar Pradesh during the protests of 19 to 21 December 2019 are contested. Police officials said police did not open fire on protesters: on 21 December IG (Law and Order) Praveen Kumar said none of the deaths was due to police firing, and DGP O.P. Singh said that not a single bullet was fired at protesters and that protesters died in firing among themselves. On 24 December the Bijnor Superintendent of Police said that a constable had shot Mohammad Suleman in self-defence after being shot himself, the first official admission of police firing in the state; Suleman's family said police took him into a lane and shot him. In Meerut, the families of five men killed on 20 December said police shot them; police said they used baton charges, tear gas and firing to control the crowd but killed no one, and that the men must have been killed by armed protesters. In February 2020 the state told the Allahabad High Court that no one lost his life due to police action. [4][5][6][1][2][3]

• 15, plus 1 deaths in Uttar Pradesh from 20 to 21 December, plus one in Lucknow on 19 December, said IG (Law and Order) Praveen Kumar (quoted by Hindustan Times) [6]
• 19 of 27 nationwide deaths in Uttar Pradesh, said Al Jazeera (agency report) [3]
• 22 deaths in Uttar Pradesh covered by the state's reply to the Allahabad High Court, said UP police submissions (as reported by The Caravan) [5]
• 5 men killed in Meerut on 20 December, said families and police records (as reported by The Caravan) [5]

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