Encounters Not Needed, "Fear Of Uniform" Should Be Enough: Jayant Chaudhary

Union minister Jayant Chaudhary on Tuesday said he wants the Uttar Pradesh Police to become so strong that it does not need to carry out encounters and the "fear of the uniform" should be enough to take down criminals.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of an event held here, Mr Chaudhary, who is the Minister of State (independent charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, said till the time a police encounter is being probed, political leaders should think before speaking on it.

"I want the UP Police to become so strong that it doesn't need to open fire. The fear of the uniform should be enough to take down criminals so that there is no need for encounters," Mr Chaudhary, the chief of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, said in Hindi.

"There is a process involved in an encounter and a probe is carried out. Till the time the probe is not completed, political leaders should think before speaking on it," he added.

The RLD is a constituent of the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Asked how many seats the RLD will contest in the upcoming bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, Mr Chaudhary said, "First, you should know that it is the NDA which is contesting (the bypolls) and the RLD is in the NDA. When elections will be contested on the 10 seats, then the selection (of candidates), symbols, campaigning and strategy will be done in coordination." "No one is alone. Neither the RLD will contest on its own, nor the BJP nor any other constituents of the NDA," he added.

Asked to comment on the BJP staking claim to contest from the Meerapur seat, Mr Chaudhary said, "The NDA will contest all the seats." RLD MLA from Meerapur assembly constituency in Muzaffarnagar district Chandan Chauhan had won from Bijnor in the Lok Sabha polls.

The 10 seats where bypolls are due include Karhal, Milkipur, Katehari, Kundarki, Ghaziabad, Khair, Meerapur, Phulpur, Majhawan and Sisamau assembly seats. The dates of the bypolls are yet to be announced.

The Sisamau assembly seat fell vacant due to the disqualification of SP MLA Irfan Solanki after he was sentenced to jail in a criminal case.

The by-elections on other seats were necessitated due to the sitting MLAs being elected to the Lok Sabha.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)