BULLDOZING JUSTICE

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath revels in the 'Bulldozer baba'image he has built for himself, but the events of the past couple of weeks will have knocked it down a few notches. 

- Prashant Srivastava

The fortnight saw two high-profile cases where three people were killed, which has led to people questioning the Yogi narrative of him being the tough, straight-shooting marshal who cleaned up a bad town, so to speak.

In the first case, 46-year-old Pramila Dixit and her daughter Neha, 22, were killed during an anti-encroachment "bulldozer action" on February 13. In the second, Umesh Pal, the prime witness in the 2005 murder case of Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Raju Pal, was shot dead outside his house in Prayagraj on February 24. Two of the five UP policemen in his security detail were also killed. Later, Arbaaz, the alleged driver for the assailants, was killed in a police encounter. Jailed don-turnedneta Atiq Ahmed and his associates are the prime suspects in the case. The UP Police have filed an FIR against Atiq, his wife Shaista Praveen, his brother Khalid Azim, two of his sons, and several others.

The Prayagraj Development Authority also brought out the bulldozers, demolishing the property of local journalist Zafar Ahmed, who they initially claimed was Atiq's relative. Shaista and two of her minor sons were living here on rent after Atiq's own residence was demolished in September 2020.

Officials also goofed up badly on basic protocol by taking the minor sons into custody, and it was only after Shaista went to court that they admitted to it.