Police failed to stop illegal cow slaughter: VHP on Bulandshahr violence
Days after a shocking incident of mob violence in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr claimed the lives of a police inspector and a youth, the VHP Wednesday termed it "unfortunate", while alleging that the police had failed to stop illegal cow slaughter in the area.
A mob of about 400 people, including right-wing activists, fought pitched battles with the police on Monday in the Siana area of Bulandshahr district, apparently after right-wing activists were angered by the discovery of cow carcasses strewn in a nearby jungle.
The mob set dozens of vehicles on fire, hurled stones and even fired from guns at the police, who also retaliated with gunfire.
In the violence, Inspector \RSubodh Kumar Singh, the station house officer of Siana, and 20-year-old Sumit Kumar were killed.
In a statement issued two days after the incident, Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) joint general secretary Surendra Jain said, "There can be no place for murder in any democracy, but the way a section of the media has tried to blame a certain ideology for the unfortunate incident, without ascertaining the facts, is highly inappropriate."
The VHP strongly condemned this conspiracy, which seemed to be inspired by selfish motives, he added.
Jain claimed that the residents of Chingrawathi village in Bulandshahr were left bewildered Monday morning when they saw the remains of slaughtered cows and some people slaughtering cows.
"Because of this, there was a feeling of anger in the community. The villagers sat on a protest dharna and vowed not to get up till the perpetrators of cow slaughter were arrested," he said, claiming that they were local villagers and did not belong to any organisation.
"The VHP alleges that the Bulandshahr police had failed to stop illegal cow slaughter and was unable to control a motley crowd of villagers. The way the police has been going about creating a ruckus and a circle of violence in Chingrawathi village, it can be safely said that the police is trying to conceal its own wrongdoings," the VHP leader said.
However, he added that Singh was killed under unfortunate circumstances and the organisation had complete faith in the special investigation team (SIT) formed by the government to probe the incident.
