New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh (UP) Chief Minister (CM) Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday ordered a blanket ban on cattle smuggling and directed state police chief to prepare an action plan to shut down illegal slaughterhouses.
Sources in the local administration confirmed the order came from the CM himself on Wednesday.
The order came at the same time when three shops selling meat and fish were set ablaze by unidentified persons, triggering panic in the area.
Police said on Wednesday they were not ruling out arson after fire gutted three butcher shops in Manyawar Kanshiram Colony.
Superintendent of Police, Hathras, Dilip Kumar Srivastava, said, “Unidentified persons set ablaze three shops selling fish and meat. An FIR has been registered against them.”
The meat industry is a magnet for religious violence in India, where Hindus consider cows sacred and accusations of beef being sold by Muslims can trigger violent mob reprisals.
The fire comes just days after Adityanath, a hardline Hindu priest-turned-politician, took control of Uttar Pradesh.
Adityanath is known for his polarising and inflammatory speeches against Muslims, and has railed for harsher penalties for the slaughter of cows, which is already illegal in most Indian states.
In his first press meet last week after taking over as head of the state government, Adityanath had emphasised that his government will take steps to fulfil promises made by his party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regarding closure of illegal slaughterhouses in the state.
“After coming to power, the Bharatiya Janata Party will take stern steps for closing down all illegal slaughterhouses besides banning mechanised slaughterhouses in Uttar Pradesh,” the BJP manifesto read.
Adityanath said there must be “zero tolerance” in cases of cattle smuggling and illegal slaughtering.
There are over 250 estimated spots in different districts of UP where animals are slaughtered illegally. BJP believes that because of cow smuggling, dairy-based industries have failed to flourish in UP.
On Tuesday, an illegally run slaughterhouse was sealed by the district authorities in Kamalgadaha area of Varanasi. According to officials, the slaughterhouse had been shutdown in 2012, but it continued to operate illegally.
On Tuesday night, the district administration sealed four meat shops in a surprise raid carried at over a dozen of shops in Ghaziabad. However, police officials claimed that the move did not come after any official order from state capital Lucknow but was only a prerogative action of the authorities.
“Over 12 open meat shops were inspected at Kaila Bhatta locality of Ghaziabad and out of which four were sealed as they did not have licenses. They have been involved in illegal slaughtering of buffalo for long. Meat samples were picked for all the shops to check sample of flesh,” raiding officer S.K. Sharma said.
According to sources, the district administration has already initiated the process of identification of all illegal slaughterhouse units and will seal it in coming days.
The illegal slaughterhouses mostly deal with slaughtering of buffalos. The slaughter of cows is banned in UP under the Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1955.
The state produces buffalo meat and exports the same to other countries.
Most butcher shops are run by Muslims and cow slaughter is a flashpoint issue. A 50-year-old Muslim man was dragged from his home in 2015 and beaten to death by roughly 100 people over rumours he ate beef. Police later said it was mutton.
India has witnessed a rise in vigilantism by Hindu extremists since Modi - whose right-wing party is strongly aligned to Hindu nationalist groups - was voted to power in 2014.
— With inputs from agencies
