The Uttar Pradesh Police on Tuesday issued a warning which said that those involved in cow slaughter and illegal transport will be charged under the National Security Act and Gangsters Act. This order has been carried to all district police chiefs by the state Director General of Police Sulkhan Singh.
Though the order to ban cow slaughter has been passed during the Akhilesh Yadav regime but was never strictly implemented.
“NSA and Gangsters Act is to be invoked against those involved in cow slaughter and trafficking of milch animals for slaughter,” the DGP’s orders said. Under NSA, the government can arrest a person for as long as it wants and the authorities need not reveal the grounds of detention. Anyone detained under the provision of Gangsters Act becomes part of a gang listed in police records.
As they get listed, the police is entitled to keep a track of those booked under this Act. The Act authorises the police to seek remand of an accused of a maximum of 60 days as compared to a maximum of 14 days under normal circumstances.
The DGP also directed SSPs and SPs of all districts to “effectively control” illegal activities committed by “vigilantes” in the name of cow protection, morality, religious conversion or illegal trafficking of milch animals. “These people/organisations should be informed that they do not have a right to act illegally by taking the law into their hands,” he said.
The directive comes in the wake of incidents in which ‘gau rakshaks’ or such organisations reach a spot where cow slaughter has taken place and cause traffic jams, assault people and indulge in arson.
