Breakdown in UP says letter by former bureaucrats

New Delhi, July 12: A group of former bureaucrats have written an open letter alleging a breakdown of governance in Uttar Pradesh. The letter from the IAS and IPS officials said that all branches of the administration in UP have collapsed.

In the four page letter, the officials alleged arbitrary detentions and torture of peaceful protesters. They further demanded an end to extra judicial killings and targeting of Muslim men.

"We note with mounting alarm that the present ruling regime in UP has ushered in a model of governance which swerves further and further away from the values of the Constitution and the rule of law with each passing day," the former bureaucrats said in the letter.

"It seems clear that all branches of the administration, including the executive magistrates and the police, have collapsed. We fear that, unless checked now, the damage to the polity and institutions in the state will result in the decay and destruction of democracy itself," the letter said.

Further the letter mentioned the case of Kerala journalist, Siddique Kappan and said that he had so far spent more than 200 days in prison. More recently, these repressive measures have taken the form of punitive actions against those highlighting lethal shortcomings in UP's healthcare system.