Police Shootings of Alleged Cow Smugglers Spark Human Rights Concerns in India
An investigation reveals hundreds of suspects, mostly Muslims, shot in the legs by police in India's Uttar Pradesh state, raising alarms over due process.
POLICY WIRE — Meerut, India — Police departments across India’s most populous state are facing intense scrutiny following an investigation into hundreds of shooting incidents involving suspects accused of cow smuggling. These encounters, which frequently target members of the Muslim minority, are often framed by authorities as necessary acts of self-defense.
Data compiled by the Center for the Study of Organized Hate indicates that nearly 650 suspects have been shot and injured by Uttar Pradesh police since 2020. A consistent pattern has emerged in these reports, with bullets frequently striking the same area of the suspect’s body—typically the lower leg—leading critics to label the practice as Operation Lame.
While senior police official Amitabh Yash maintains that officers are instructed to use force only in self-defense and denies any systemic policy of targeting, human rights advocates and members of the judiciary argue the trend suggests extrajudicial punishment. The Allahabad High Court has publicly warned that such routine firing at the legs of accused individuals is impermissible and undermines the rule of law.
The political climate in the region has intensified under the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who has championed a zero-tolerance policy toward crime. As the practice reportedly spreads to neighboring states, families of those injured describe a cycle of destitution and fear, claiming that the state’s aggressive policing tactics are effectively bypassing the traditional justice system.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)
