Farrukhabad hostage crisis: UP Police saves 23 children, neutralises captor

In a daring rescue mission, the Uttar Pradesh Police rescued 23 children from hostage after neutralising the accused Subhash Batham. Nine hours after the hostage situation began in UP’s Farrukhabad, police confirmed that Subhash Batham who was holding around 23 children as hostage has been killed in an operation and all children have been safely evacuated.

Notably, Subhash had gathered around 23 children on the pretext of birthday celebrations by around 3 pm on Thursday. Once locals realised the children had been taken hostage, the police were called. At around 5 pm, Batham fired from inside the house on those who tried to speak to him, leading to a policeman and a local getting injured. Subsequently, the Superintendent of Police and the District Magistrate reached the spot. After an everlasting seven hours of taking the children hostage, the accused released a six-month-old girl and as a special team and other officials engaged with him. Police said Batham handed over the girl to his neighbour from a balcony. Around 1 am on Friday, the locals laid siege on Batham’s house and broke the front door. As the police entered his house, they fired on Batham in defence.

To get an idea of the panic situation, police officials and the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on the rescue operation warned the miscreant to release the children but the kidnapper retaliated and opened fire at the police. He also attacked the police forces with a hand grenade, which injured two officials. The police were alerted after Subhash threatened to blow up the entire house. The kidnapper was reportedly serving life imprisonment on charge of murder and had been released on bail.

Unfortunately, Batham’s wife who was also in the house during the situation came out, she was beaten up by the villagers and taken for treatment at the nearby community health centre by the police where she succumbed to her injuries.

The vigilant action of the state administration directly led by CM Yogi Adityanath was even lauded by Home Minister Amit Shah, “It is laudable to get all the children held hostage in Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, safe with the efficient strategy and planning by the police. Congratulations to Chief Minister @myogiadityanath and the Uttar Pradesh Police for this”, tweeted the Home Minister.

Reportedly, CM Yogi Adityanath had called a high level meeting over Farrukhabad incident promptly to deal with the situation. Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary (Home), DGP, ADGP Law & Order were present. A team of NSG (National Security Guard) commandos was also deployed via a special aircraft to reach Farrukhabad to deal with the assumed escalation in situation.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was said to be directly monitoring the situation in Farrukhabad. Subsequently, the chief minister also announced an award of Rs 10 lakh for the UP Police team that successfully carried out the operation leading to the rescue of the children. “All personnel who took part in operation will be given a certificate of appreciation,” said UP Additional Chief Secretary Awanish K Awasthi.

The prompt and careful response of the UP Police and Yogi Government must be commended as it yielded the pleasing result everyone wanted. Hostage rescue operations are considered quite tough due to several factors. Even as the accused threw a grenade over the police, the patient and calculated response of the police while further assessing the mindset of the accused must also be highlighted.