3,247 murders in UP between 2017 and 2022 triggered by land disputes: NCRB data

LUCKNOW The murder of three members of a family in Lucknow’s Malihabad area on Friday yet again pointed towards the failure of revenue officials in resolving land disputes. At least 3,247 murders in UP between 2017 and 2022 were a fallout of land and property disputes, as per data by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath had directed revenue officials to resolve land and property disputes on priority, after killings of six people, including five members of a Brahmin family in Fatehpur village of Deoria district, on October 2, 2023.

The Friday incident in Malihabad triggered panic in the area, prompting authorities to rush the police and Provincial Armed Constabulary personnel to prevent further clashes.

Experts said land disputes have been a major trigger for murder cases in rural areas of states like UP and Bihar. While scanning NCRB figures, HT found that 226 people were killed over land and property disputes in 2022, 227 in 2021, 642 in 2020, 516 in 2019, 1,323 in 2018 and 313 in 2017.

“Land disputes involve prestige and supremacy of families rather than just being an economical reason, following which such disputes lead to killings, especially in rural Uttar Pradesh,” Prashant Trivedi, assistant professor, Giri Institute of Development Studies, had earlier stated.

Former IPS officer Umesh Kumar Singh said the Malihabad incident is basically the failure of local administration in resolving long pending dispute between two families, pointing out the “existing corruption among lower-rung officials of revenue and police department.”