655 police encounter killings in India in five years, highest in Chhattisgarh

Pic for representational use only

New Delhi: A total of 655 police encounter killings have taken place in the country in the last five years with Chhattisgarh reporting the highest number of such cases at 191.

Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai informed the Lok Sabha that apart from the 191 police encounter killings in Chhattisgarh, 117 such incidents were reported in Uttar Pradesh in the last five years, 50 in Assam, 49 in Jharkhand, 36 in Odisha and 35 in Jammu and Kashmir.

In a written reply to a question, Rai said 26 police encounter killings took place in Maharashtra between January 1, 2017, and January 31, 2022. 

Twenty-two such incidents took place in Bihar during the same period, 15 in Haryana, 14 in Tamil Nadu, 13 each in Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh, nine each in Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya and eight each in Rajasthan and Delhi.