UP Police's encounter snapshot: 289 killings in 17k incidents
UP Police conducted 17,043 encounters over the past nine years, resulting in 289 criminals being killed and 34,253 arrests. Meerut alone accounted for 34% of all criminals killed in UP police encounters.
Since 2017, the Uttar Pradesh government has aggressively pursued encounter operations across the state. According to official data, UP Police conducted 17,043 encounters over the past nine years, in which 289 alleged criminals were killed, and 34,253 were arrested.
And if there is one zone that defines UP's encounter era, it is Meerut. With 4,813 encounter operations — roughly one in every three encounters across the entire state — Meerut sits alone at the top of every ranking. Police arrested 8,921 criminals, injured 3,513, and killed 97. No other zone comes close on the neutralisation count.
Behind Meerut, the pattern of aggressive policing repeats itself across UP's zones. The Agra zone ranks second in total encounters with 2,494 operations, resulting in 5,845 arrests and 24 killings.
The Varanasi zone, ranked second in killings at 29, across 1,292 encounters. The zone also recorded 2,426 arrests. The Bareilly zone saw 21 criminals killed in 2,222 operations, while the Lucknow zone recorded 20 killings in 971 encounters.
Among the commissionerates, Ghaziabad leads with 18 criminals killed in 789 encounters, followed by Lucknow Commissionerate with 12 killed in just 147 encounters, a notably high kill ratio. Gautam Buddha Nagar, which covers Noida and Greater Noida, saw nine alleged criminals killed in 1,144 operations.
The campaign has not come without sacrifice. Eighteen UP Police personnel have been martyred during encounter operations over this period, and 1,852 have been injured. On the other hand, 11,834 criminals were injured.
According to the NCRB’s Crime in India 2024 report, Uttar Pradesh’s overall crime rate declined slightly from 181.3 cases per lakh population in 2023 to 180.2 in 2024, well below the national average of 252.3. This improvement also pushed the state’s rank from 11th to 18th among states and Union Territories in terms of crime rate.
The state recorded a murder rate of 1.3 per lakh population, compared to the national average of 1.9, placing it 29th in the country. Its rape rate stood at 2.8, significantly lower than the national average of 4.3, giving it the 24th rank.
(With Inputs from Santosh Kumar Sharma)