Two Minor Girls Jailed For 'Cow Slaughter' In UP, Cops Allegedly Seize 10 Quintal Of Meat
Cops also claimed to have seized 10 quintals of meat and butchering implements from a house. Four other accused fled the scene, police had said.
Police in Muzaffarnagar have arrested and sent to jail two girls, one 12 years old and the other 16, after picking them up along with their mother and six other persons on charges of cow slaughter. The two children were shown as adults in court and dispatched to jail when they should have been sent to a juvenile home.
TOI has copies of the Aadhaar cards of the two girls that show their year of birth as 2001 and 2005.
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On Friday morning, Khatauli police had arrested nine persons, including the two girls and three women, for alleged slaughter of cows. Cops also claimed to have seized 10 quintals of meat and butchering implements from a house. Four other accused fled the scene, police had said. Two other women are among those arrested.
Later in the evening, police produced all the nine accused as adults before a local court here, which in turn sent them to judicial custody. According to law, minors are not handcuffed or sent to jail. They are produced before juvenile justice board and then sent to correction homes.
The father of the girls, Nasimuddin, is also among the accused and is on the run.
Local residents stage protest against arrests
Soon after the arrest, local residents gathered in large numbers and held a protest. "Why have the police arrested the children and the wife of Nasimuddin?" one of the protesters demanded.
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When contacted, SSP Ajay Sahdev told TOI that he has ordered a probe by the Khatauli circle officer (CO). "He will look into the matter and action will be taken after investigation is over," he said, while not commenting on the fate of the two kids. "The arrested persons were engaged in cattle slaughter. Nasimuddin has several cow slaughter cases registered against him. We recovered meat and hides of five cows from the spot," Khatauli police station in-charge Ambika Prasad Bhardwaj said. Family members of the accused and UP spokesperson of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, Shadab Ahmed, joined the protest in front of the Muzaffarnagar police headquarters on Saturday. "Two little girls are in jail. Why?" asked Ahmed. "There are three women, too, in jail. I don't understand under which law police sent them to jail?"
