The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court dismissed the National Security Act (NSA) charges against three men accused of cow slaughter in Uttar Pradesh. The court said that the act could be described as a matter of law and order but not public order.
The petitions were filed against the arrest of Irfan, Pervez, and Rahmatullah. The 3 accused were taken into custody in July 2020 on charges of cow slaughter. The police later, on August 14, charged them under NSA as well.
On August 5, during the hearing, the court said the act of slaughtering a cow in the secrecy of one’s own house because of poverty, hunger or lack of employment could ” involve a law-and-order issue”.
It “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”, the Bench of Justices Ramesh Sinha and Saroj Yadav further observed.
“There was no material for reaching the conclusion for detaining authorities that the petitioners would repeat the activity in future,” the High Court said.
Last year, on July 12, the Sitapur police raided Rahmatullah’s house and found five people cutting beef in small pieces. The police then booked three men under various sections of the UP-Cow Slaughter Act. Pervez and Irfan were arrested on the spot.
Challenging their detention under the NSA, the court said that the Act was used based on a solitary incident and there was no record evidence to show that the three accused would repeat the crime on being released.
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