India, Oct. 21 -- LUCKNOW Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday alleged that political interference under the previous Samajwadi Party government had weakened the police and emboldened criminals in the state, which saw 815 riots in the 2012-2017 period.

Addressing the Police Commemoration Day event in Lucknow, Adityanath reiterated his government's zero-tolerance policy towards crime and said the police had been freed from political constraints since the BJP came to power in 2017.

He alleged that police officers faced political pressure under previous regimes, with action often taken against officials rather than criminals.

Targeting critics of police encounters and the government's zero-tolerance policy, he said some people expr...