‘State violence’ in UP giving birth to ‘gun culture’: Akhilesh Yadav on Noida university shootout

PTI, May 23, 2023, 8:25 AM IST

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday accused the Uttar Pradesh government of giving birth to ”gun culture” in the state, and also held the dispensation accountable for an incident at a private university in Greater Noida where a student killed a batch-mate before shooting himself dead.

A 21-year-old BA third year student had on Thursday shot dead his woman batchmate inside the Shiv Nadar university premises. The two were allegedly in a relationship but had broken up due to some differences after which the student took the extreme step, according to local police officials.

”Due to poor security arrangements in the prestigious Shiv Nadar university in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida, near Delhi, the killing of a girl student by three gunshots is a painful incident. The UP administration had been equally negligent. Uttar Pradesh mein shaasnik hinsa ne nayi ‘tamancha sanskriti’ ko janm diya hai (The state violence in UP has given birth to a new gun culture in UP,” Yadav tweeted in Hindi.

The former chief minister has been critical of the Yogi Adityanath government over what he described as ”fake encounters” of suspected criminals by the state police. Meanwhile, the local police continued its probe to ascertain from where the deceased student had procured the country-made 0.32 bore pistol for the shootout, an official said.

An FIR was lodged at the Dadri police station under sections 3, 25 and 27 of the Arms Act against the deceased student, the official added.