The Uttar Pradesh Police (UP Police), (IAST: Uttara Pradeśa Pulisa), is the primary law enforcement agency within the Uttar Pradesh state of India. Established in 1863 as the Office of the Inspector General of Police, United Provinces under the Police Act, 1861.,[8] the U.P Police is one of the oldest police departments in the Republic of India, and is the largest police force in the world.[9]
The UP Police headquarters is at Signature Building, Gomti Nagar, Ardonamau in Lucknow.[10]
The UP police employ around 1,368 gazetted officers, and 231,443 non gazetted uniformed officers.
Uttar Pradesh police are governed by the Department of Home and Confidential of Uttar Pradesh.[8]
The Uttar Pradesh Police is headed by the Director General of Police (DGP) for the state of Uttar Pradesh, who is the highest-ranking (DG) IPS officer of the state cadre.
UP Police is the first Indian state police agency to have a highway patrol Unit, the UP Highway Police (UPHP).[11]
Signature Building – UP Police headquarter, Lucknow
History
The present police system was created following the recommendation of the Police Commission headed by H.M. Court in 1860 and was enacted as Police Act of 1861.[12] H.M. Court became the first inspector general of police of the then North West Province and Avadh which comprised the territory of the present state of Uttar Pradesh.
Since then many amendments in the Police Act of 1861 have happened which has shaped the current institution and structure of police in the state.[12]
Yadavisation by Samajwadi Party
Yadavisation, refers to excessive hiring of new recruits from Yadav community by the Samajwadi Party, often by rejecting candidates from other castes or religions by giving them lower scores in tests.[13][14][15] In 2007 the Uttar Pradesh Police, had around one lakh(100,000) constables, more than 20 per cent of which were Yadavs.[15][16]
According to a 2014 UP home department source, in districts under the influence of Samajwadi Party, about 60% police stations were headed by Yadavs.[16]
Yadavisation caused lawlessness in Uttar Pradesh, as the recruits from Yadav community often protected criminals and goons who were members of the Samajwadi Party. The police refused to file cases and where cases were filed, these were never investigated.[16][17]
A Director General of Police (DGP) heads the state police. He is assisted by many police officers. State police headquarters is situated in Lucknow.
For the purpose of maintaining law and order in the state, the state of Uttar Pradesh is divided into 8 police zones. Each zone is headed by an officer of the rank of additional director general of police who is an officer of the Indian police Service. Each police zone is constituted by 2 to 3 police ranges.There are a total of 18 police ranges in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Each range is headed by an officer of the rank of either inspector general of police or deputy inspector general of police which corresponds with the administrative division. Each police range is constituted by around 2 to 4 districts.
Typically, a police district in the state corresponds with the administrative district. Though, the head of the police force in the district is the senior superintendent of police (SSP)/superintendent of police (SP), who is always an officer of the Indian Police Service, the ultimate/final responsibility with regard to the maintenance of the law and order in the district lies with the district magistrate who is an officer of the Indian Administrative Service. The police district is further subdivided into police sub-divisions or police circles. A police circle is usually headed by an officer of the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police or Assistant Superintendent of Police. The officer heading the police circle/sub-division is designated as the Circle Officer (C.O.) in the state of Uttar Pradesh. A police circle is usually constituted by 2 to 4 police stations. Each police station is headed by a police inspector. Throughout the state of Uttar Pradesh and other states, especially in North India, there is the main police station in the older/ main part of the city known as the Kotwali. The Kotwali covers the main or usually the older part of the town/city under its jurisdiction. Earlier, when the cities and towns were smaller and had a lesser population than at present and they hadn't grown in size so much, Kotwali covered the main town area of the cities or the districts. A police station is also called as a thana in the local language. The officer in charge of a police station is designated as or called as the station officer (S.O.) or station house officer (S.H.O). He is assisted by various sub-inspectors, head-constables, constables. There are also a number of police chowkis that come under the police station. A police chowki is under the charge of a sub-inspector of police. The regular constabulary carries the bulk of normal beat policing and patrolling.
The police commissioner system has been implemented in the cities of Lucknow City, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Kanpur Nagar and Varanasi. In the commissionerate system, the Commissioner of Police (CP) in the rank of Additional Director General of Police (ADG) heads the district. In Lucknow, the CP is assisted by 2 Joint Commissioners of Police (JCPs) in the rank of IG, and in Gautam Buddh Nagar, the commissioner is assisted by 2 Additional Commissioners (Addl. CPs) in the rank of DIG who look after Law and order while other looks into Crime & Headquarters. Under them, there is a team of IPS & PPS officers who are posted as DCPs and ACPs. Three DCPs are posted in a zone. One DCP's insignia is the state emblem above one star, who is senior to the other two DCPs, whose insignia is one state emblem only. Under the DCPs work ACPs, who are the chiefs of various circles. They are vested with the powers of the executive magistrate for criminal cases. Police Commissionerates are independent of zonal & range police chiefs supervision. They are also vested with powers of an executive magistrate under various acts.
Police Units
Units of Uttar Pradesh Police
No.
Unit
Current Officer Executive
Rank
1
DG Police HQRS
H. C. Awasthy
DGP
2
Police HQRS
Bhagirath P. Jogdand
ADG
3
Anti Corruption Org
Zaki Ahmad
ADG
4
Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS)
Dr. G. K. Goswamy
IG
5
Criminal Investigative Department (CID)
Dawa Sherpa
ADG
L. V. Antony Kumar
ADG
Dr. Ramkrishna Swarnkar
ADG
6
Economic Offences Wing (EOG)
Dr. Rajendra Pal Singh
DG
7
Fire Services
Vijay Prakash
ADG
8
Government Railway Police (GRP)
Piyush Anand
ADG
9
Human Rights
Monmohon Kumar Bashal
ADG
10
Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC)
Ajay Anand
ADG
11
Recruitment Board (UPPR &PB)
Dr. Raj Kumar Vishwakarma
ADG
12
Rules & Manual
Radhey Shyam
SP
13
Security
Binod K. Singh
ADG
14
Special Enquires
Chandra Prakash
DG
15
Special Investigative Team (SIT)
Dr. Rajendra Pal Singh
DG
16
Special Task Force (STF)
Amitabh Yash
ADG
17
Traffic Directorate
Jyoti Narayan
ADG
18
Training Directorate
Sujan Vir Singh
DG
Brij Raj
DG
19
Technical Services
–
DG
20
Telecom
Sunil Kumar Gupta
ADG
21
Vigilance
P. V. Ramasastry
22
Logistics
Bijaya Kumar Maurya
ADG
23
(UP 112) ITECCS
–
–
24
State Disaster Response Force
–
–
25
Mahilla Samman Prakoshth
–
–
Police Commissionerates
There are 4 police commissionerates under UP Police:-
List of Inspector Generals of United Provinces Police [23]
No.
Name
From
To
11
SG Pearce
1 December 1946
26 October 1947
10
P Meabsure
28 June 1945
30 November 1946
10
MA Inglis
6 July 1940
26 June 1945
9
RA Horton
7 November 1937
5 July 1940
8
AH Phillips
15 March 1937
6 November 1937
7
RA Horton
16 June 1935
18 February 1937
5
ST Holling
7 April 1934
15 June 1935
6
HR Roe
5 November 1933
6 April 1934
5
ST Holling
27 April 1931
4 November 1933
RJS Dodd
5 November 1928
25 March 1931
4
AH Williamson
3 May 1928
4 November 1928
3
RJS Dodd
7 November 1925
2 May 1928
2
AD Ashdown
1 October 1923
6 November 1925
1
LM Kaye
23 February 1919
30 September 1923
Technology
Facial recognition system
UP police uses a database of 500,000+ criminals with facial recognition technology in its "Trinetra" face identification system.[25][26]
Social media research center
A social media command and research center has been established in Meerut. The center monitors trends in social media that can have an impact on law & order situation and advise concerned district and range police chiefs.[27]
In 2007, 18,000 police officers were fired as they were hired despite being unqualified for the job.[34] These new recruits were illiterates who bribed between ₹100,000 and ₹500,000 to cheat in the UP police entrance tests.[34]
Rapes and crime against women
In 2008, a UP police officer was arrested for raping the wife of his subordinate officer.[35]
In 2011, UP police constable Ateeq Ahmed[36] was sentenced to life imprisonment after he raped and killed a 14-year-old child.[37]
On 16 August 2020, UP Police officers asked an underage girl to dance before filing an FIR.[38]
On 21 August 2019, UP police officers allegedly gang-raped a 21-year-old woman in Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh.[39]
In 2020, a male police officer was caught masturbating in front of a woman complainant inside a police station.[40]
In January 2021, a female constable was allegedly raped by her colleague male policeman in Gonda district.[41][42]
In 2018, SHO Sunil Verma killed 48-year-old man Ramji Mishra at Gopiganj Police Station.[45][46] Verma allegedly used third degree torture on Ramji.[47]
In 2019, a journalist was illegally locked-up, stripped and forced to drink urine by the UP police in Shamli.[48]
In October 2019, UP cops were accused of torturing a 35-year-old man to death in front of his 11-year-old son while in custody.[49][50] 3 cops, including the SHO of Pilkhuwa town were suspended for allegedly torturing the man.[51] The son told a newspaper, “My father kept begging them not to beat him and asked them what he had done wrong but they kept hitting him,” “They were drunk. He fell at their feet and asked them to leave him but they tortured him so much that he defecated and urinated. Even when he was taken to the local hospital, he was not given any treatment. He was just locked in a room”.[51]
On 3 May 2020, UP police forced a man to dance after he was allegedly caught violating the lock-down guidelines during the Covid-19 pandemic.[52]
On 29 July 2020, a UP police station house officer brutally kicked an innocent man into a river.[53]
In August 2020, UP cops assaulted a lawyer for questioning detention of minor boy.[54]
In August 2020, UP cops were video-taped brutally beating Samajwadi Party worker students demanding postponement of NEET, JEE exams during the covid-19 pandemic.[55][56]
On 20 May 2021, killed Faisal Hussain, a 18-year-old vegetable seller for violating COVID-19 restriction.[57][58]
On April 30, 2021, Uttar Pradesh Police officers forcibly took away an oxygen cylinder from a boy who had arranged it for his mother who was suffering from COVID-19.[59] The boy's mother died after the incident.[60]
Fake encounters
India Today exposed that UP police frame innocent people and kill them in staged encounters for money and promotions.[61] A sub-inspector of the offered to gun down an innocent civilian for around Rs 8 lakh.[62]
Between 2015–2018, 211 complaints of fake encounters were filed in India out of which 39 were on UP police.[63]
In 2012, 17 UP police personnel were given life term for killing an incontinent 24-year-old man in a 1992 fake encounter and later they branded the victim as a terrorist.[64]
On July 10, 2020, UP police killed gangster-turned-politician Vikas Dubey.[65][66] UP police denies that the incident was a fake encounter.[67][68]
Others
In 2011, senior UP police officer who exposed corruption was termed “mentally ill” and forcibly taken to a hospital by the UP police.[69][70]
In 2017, eight donkeys were detained for 4 days for eating expensive($1,000) plants.[71]
In 2017, a UP policeman was caught destroying Indian railways property in a bid to stop a moving train to catch a fleeing prisoner.[72] After the Cop jumped off the moving train, he was thrashed by Railway police for jumping off a moving train and vandalism of Indian railway property and the prisoner escaped.[73]
In 2020, an officer who highlighted corruption in the police department was probed for ‘leaking secret documents’ to the media.[74]
In 2020, SHO Mani Shankar Tewari of Kheron police station in Raebareli district was caught giving lessons in corruption to his subordinates. Tewari was heard saying "You can commit crimes...I will manage as long as I am here" and "We can get Rs.10–15 thousand if we catch those involved in illegal mining....but if you apprehend a woman involved in selling illicit liquor we will get only Rs. one or two thousand so why take so much trouble".[75]
In 2020, Uttar Pradesh government started an operation to screen corrupt police officials who will be forced to take retirement.[76]
In the 2020 Hathras gang rape and murder UP Police forcibly cremated the body of the victim girl without the consent of her family.[77] Chandpa SHO DK Verma was transferred for his "failure to promptly act" in the case.[78]
In 2017, 3 cops caught were caught drinking beer on duty in Etawah.[79]
^DelhiAugust 6, Jamshed Khan Sushant Pathak Amit Kumar Chaudhary Agra/New; August 7, 2018UPDATED; Ist, 2018 06:37. "Exposed: Uttar Pradesh's cash-for-encounter raj". India Today. Archived from the original on 28 August 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2020. ((cite web)): |first3= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
