UP ramps up security after letter threatens attack on temples; investigation underway

CM Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday increased security at all the temples in the state after a letter of threat was received, an official said. Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), North, Devesh Kumar Pandey said that after receiving the letter warning of attacks, the temples across the state are being strictly guarded. 

DCP Devesh Kumar Pandey said, "We have been notified of a letter threatening to attack some temples in Uttar Pradesh. Police personnel is working towards the issue. The temples are being strictly guarded. Further, the investigation of the letter is underway."

UP's law and order situation degrading, restore constitutional norms: Former civil servants

Earlier in July, a civil society group comprising intellectual and former bureaucrats had written an open letter to highlight the "complete crackdown of governance and blatant violation of the rule of law in Uttar Pradesh". The signatories of the open letter had demanded that arbitrary detentions and torture of police attacks on peacefully protesting students, minorities, dissenters should stop immediately and recoveries for alleged damage to property under an "arbitrary" law be discontinued. 

The civil society group members had also alleged that more than 6,000 encounters, including both serious injuries and extra-judicial killings, were eulogised as achievements by top bureaucrats. The writers of the letter had also demanded an end to institutionalisation and legitimisation of vigilantism by appointing “police mitras” and giving immunity to cow protectors as the violence they inflict dissolves the distinction between the state and private armies.

(Image: ANI, PTI-Representative)