UP govt will hold senior police officials responsible for lapse in cow slaughter laws

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday night ordered strict action against cow slaughter, unlawful trade in cattle and illegal slaughterhouses, two days after two people were killed in mob violence in Bulandshahr.

His instructions were conveyed by Chief Secretary Anup Pandey to magistrates and superintendents of police of all 75 districts through a video link, an official release said.

Adityanath said the district magistrate and other senior police officials of a district will be held personally responsible for any lapse.

On Monday, a mob of some 400 people, including right-wing activists, violently rampaged through the Chingrawathi village apparently after cow carcasses were found strewn in a jungle nearby. The police have arrested four people in connection with the violence.

A Bajrang Dal leader, who the police suspect is the main accused in the case, has been absconding since the incident. In a video surfaced online on Wednesday, Bajrang Dal's Bulandshahr convenor Yogesh Raj claimed innocence and the right-wing group also asked him to surrender before police but said it believed he was innocent.

Adityanath has been severely criticised by opposition leaders over the state of law and order following Monday's violence in which a police inspector, who had initially probed the 2015 lynching of Akhlaq in Dadri, and a young man died.

Akhlaq was lynched on suspicion that beef was being consumed in his home.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee have slammed the law and order situation in the state.

Gandhi wondered if police was being treated in such a manner in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's rule, then how terrorised the common man would be feeling. Banerjee slammed Adityanth's administration, alleging the state police is carrying out "fake encounters after fake encounters".

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister, who on Wednesday returned to campaign in Telangana, has also been criticised for attending a laser show in Gorakhpur the day violence happened in Bulandshahr.

Adityanath will meet the slain inspector's family on Thursday, officials said.

He directed district magistrates and senior officials to send weekly reports and ordered divisional commissioners and zonal IGs/DIGs to review implementation of his instructions issued on Wednesday night.

He said media reports on any cow slaughter should be taken seriously and an inquiry should be ordered promptly.

Nearly 90 people have been made accused in the BUlandshahr violence case and 27 of them have been named.

(With inputs from agencies.)