- Saturday, May 11, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
While cow vigilantism has continued to be a major menace in India with Hindu right-wing activists accused of targeting minority Muslims in the name of protecting cows, considered sacred by the country’s majority community, it was been reported that some people were arrested in connection with a false complaint against four Muslim men, accusing them of killing a cow last month, The Wire reported.
The accused are members of the right-wing group All India Hindu Mahasabha and they were arrested in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
It has been alleged that they slaughtered cows to frame Muslim men as communal tensions continued to grip various parts of India following the Hindu festival of Ram Navami celebrated recently. Violence broke out in many states of the country in which two persons were killed while many were injured on the occasion of the festival marking the birthday of Lord Rama.
Uttar Pradesh, which is ruled by prime minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has stringent anti-cow slaughter laws. The act is punishable with imprisonment of a maximum of 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 500,000.
According to reports, the conspiracy to implicate the Muslim men was allegedly hatched on the eve of the Hindu festival in the city of Agra in Uttar Pradesh.
Initial reports claimed that a cow slaughter allegedly took place at Gautam Nagar area of Agra, on the eve of Ram Navami on March 29, India’s Amar Ujala had first reported.
Police said the members of All India Hindu Mahasabha filed a police complaint alleging that he saw four Muslim men killing a cow and planning to sell the beef, it was reported.
The accused included Mohammad Rizwan, a local person, and his three sons Nakeem, Vijju and Shanu. The complaint was registered against the four under sections of the UP Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act after the law-makers discovered beef on the reported spot, it was added.
Later, investigation showed that the Muslim men who were accused by the Hindu body were being falsely implicated out of personal grudge.
The police found Sanjay Jat, spokesperson of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, as allegedly the main conspirator.
“The cow was slaughtered on the eve of Ram Navami to disturb social harmony. We had unconfirmed reports about such an incident but got conclusive evidence when they tried to implicate some innocent people,” a police officer was quoted as saying by India’s The Telegraph daily.