DM Monitoring
Mathura: On September 11, 2022, Sameer A., owner of a printing press, discovered some bags lying outside the main gate of his house in Mathura. As he opened the bags, he was shocked to find the bags containing pieces of buffalo meat.
After the Mathura Police was informed of the incident, Sameer was arrested, and sent to jail for 56 days on charges of ‘cow slaughter’ – a crime punishable in Uttar Pradesh with imprisonment of up to 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 5 lakh.
On August 31, 2021, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath banned the sale of meat and liquor in 22 municipal wards of Mathura that come within a 1.5 kilometre radius of the Shri Krishna Janmasthan Temple – the birthplace of Krishna. In 2017, Adityanath had placed a similar ban in areas religious areas significant to Hinduism.
But many Muslims in Mathura have shared with The Wire that they have faced cases where the police have even arrested some of them on ‘suspicion’ of cow slaughter.
The Wire reviewed seven FIRs filed in 2022 across various police stations in Mathura, including Kotwali, Highway, Sadar Bazaar, and Govind Nagar. It found that these FIRs were mere copies of each other with names and dates changed.
For instance, FIR 0345, filed on August 31, 2022 at Govind Nagar police station, says that the police received a tip from an informer that a woman and a man were transporting, rather allegedly smuggling, 43 kilograms of cow meat on foot.
Similarly, FIR 0584, filed on September 12, 2022 at Kotwali police station, says that the police were tipped off by an informer that 25 kgs of cow meat was found in 25 packets outside a Muslim man’s house.
Then again, FIR 0388, filed on June 25, 2022 at Kotwali police station, says that the police received a tip from an informer that two men and a woman were smuggling 6.4 kgs of cow meat.
Even on March 9, upon receiving a tip-off from ‘gaurakshaks‘ (cow vigilantes), the police claimed to have seized five quintals of meat, suspected to be beef, from a vehicle. Notably, at the scene, the police arrived with the cow vigilantes, and an arrest was made solely on suspicion, even before the meat was tested.
On August 30, the Govind Nagar police received a tip from informers to arrest a Muslim man for selling around 20 kgs of alleged cow meat.
