New Delhi: The newly-elected Congress government in Madhya Pradesh has slapped the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against three men accused of killing a cow at Khandwa, police said on Tuesday.
The trio, identified as Shakeel, Nadeem and Azam, were sent to jail by a local court on Monday.
“Acting on a tip-off that a few persons were allegedly involved in illegal act of slaughtering a cow, police raided a place at Kharkali village near here last Friday and seized a large knife and beef from the spot,” Moghat police station in-charge, Mohan Singore said.
This is the first instance when the NSA has been invoked against persons accused of cow slaughter under the Congress government.
However, the accused fled from the spot during the police action, he said.
But police arrested them on Saturday from their different hideouts in Khandwa city and district collector, Vishesh Garhpale, slapped the provisions of the NSA against them, Singore said. The Act allows the government to detain people up to a year if they are suspected to be a threat to national security or public order.
“On Monday, they were produced before a local court, which sentenced them to jail under the NSA and other relevant sections of the IPC,” he added.
Also Read: Congress Government in Rajasthan to Felicitate People Who Adopt Stray Cows
During the election campaign the Congress provided increased focus to cow protection. It planned to establish a cow shed in every panchayat and said it would deliver on these promises. This was seen as the party’s attempt to take on the BJP’s own Hindutva agenda.
On Tuesday, BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said the Congress is following in the previous Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s footsteps. He told Hindustan Times, “the Congress government is merely trying to follow the actions of the previous BJP state government in view of the Lok Sabha elections”.
Congress spokesperson J.P. Dhanopia said that chief minister Kamal Nath has asked district and police administration to take all actions necessary to “maintain law and order”. He added, “The government is sensitive towards cow-related issues and such action will be taken in future too.”
(With PTI inputs)
