Two arrested for thrashing 2 youths for ‘cow slaughter’

The arrests followed the wide circulation of a video showing the two youths being hit with sticks by a group of at least six persons in Sikandrabad area on March 2.

The Uttar Pradesh police on Thursday arrested two persons for thrashing two youths and spreading a 'false' story of cow slaughter in Bulandhshar .

The arrests followed the wide circulation of a video showing the two youths being hit with sticks by a group of at least six persons in Sikandrabad area on March 2. The two had claimed that while assaulting them, the assaulters accused them of cow slaughter and hurled communal abuses at them while referring to the Delhi violence .

While declaring the arrest of two of the five persons named in the FIR, a senior Bulandhshar police officer said the accused had “come up with a false story” of

cow slaughter .

Bulandhshar ASP Gopal Krishan Chaudhary said the accused knew of a dead cow lying near a ground where they would often play cricket. “So they came up with a false story to spoil the atmosphere”, he said, adding that a police team instantly reached the spot upon hearing about an assault and alleged cow slaughter. The police recovered the skull of a cow from the spot while the carcass had been eaten by dogs. After investigation, it was found that the carcass was five days old and the cow had a “natural death”, the officer told media.

Upon questioning the arrested persons, Mr. Chaudhary said, they mentioned that Pradeep and Sachin had some dispute with the two youths over payment at a hotel.

The arrested persons were identified as Karan alias Vipin and Badal alias Vinendra. A case under attempt to murder, rioting, criminal intimidation and kidnapping for murder against five persons and another unidentified accused was registered earlier.

In one video widely shared on social media, the two youths, one of them bare-chested, were seen being punched, kicked and hit with a lathi by the men, later identified as the accused, in an undisclosed location next to a car bearing a Delhi number plate.

Later, in another video, one of them, identifying himself as Umar, is heard saying the assaulters intercepted their car and pulled them on the road while they were going to a cold storage. He alleges that the assaulters used communal slurs and referred to the violence in Delhi while abusing and threatening them with dire consequences.” They had hammers, axe and knives and also threatened to throw acid on us”, he states.

In a cryptic sentence, he suggests that they were targeted over allegations of cow slaughter. “Shouldn't we have blood on our hands [if we indulged in cow slaughter]”, he asks.