India, June 6 -- The Allahabad High Court has issued a sharp rebuke to the Uttar Pradesh police and bureaucracy, flagging "targeted" actions and encounter killings. The high court, during a hearing, accused the police of acting "to satisfy their political superiors" rather than being loyal to the Constitution.

"The vertical loyalty of officers runs not toward the Constitution but toward the ruling dispensation. Field officers, acutely conscious of the transfer-posting economy, calibrate their conduct to satisfy political superiors," Justice Vinod Diwakar said in his 31-page judgement in 'Rajendra Tyagi and 2 Others vs State of UP and another'.

The bench made these observations while quashing a criminal case against three members of a fa...