Slaughtering a cow in the secrecy of one’s home is not a matter involving public order, the Allahabad High Court noted, while quashing the detention of three Muslim men under the National Security Act (NSA) in an alleged cow slaughter case in Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur district.
The three men were arrested in July 2020, after the Sitapur Police raided their house while they were cutting beef with the purpose of selling the meat.
Two of the men – Parvez and Irfan – were arrested on the spot, while three others – Rahmatullah, Karim and Rafi – fled. They were later arrested and charged with sections of the UP Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act and Criminal Law Amendment Act.
“…an act of slaughtering a cow in the secrecy of one’s own house , would perhaps only involve a law and order issue and could not be said to stand on the same footing as a situation where a number of cattle have been slaughtered outside in public view and the public transport of their flesh or an incident where aggressive attack is made by the slaughterers against the complaining public, which may involve infractions of public order,” the court observed, The Hindu reported.
Following the arrest in July, the superintendent of police and station house officer of Sitapur sought the detention of arrested Muslim youth Irfan, Parvez, and Rahamatullah under the NSA which was granted by the district court on August 14, 2020. The police officer also submitted to the district magistrate that the release of the accused on bail might cause disruption of public order.
The public prosecutor also had submitted that the cow slaughtering incident had disturbed communal amity in the area as people from the Hindu community had gathered near the house of the accused.
“An atmosphere of fear and terror was generated, public order was disturbed and the crowd became belligerent,” he told the court.
The Muslim men then filed a petition seeking to quash the detention under NSA. “there was no need to direct their preventive detention merely on the basis of a solitary incident of cutting beef…in the secrecy of their home,” their lawyer submitted to the court.
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