3 weeks on, minor girls still in jail on cow slaughter charges

MEERUT: More than 20 days after the Uttar Pradesh police arrested and sent to jail two girls, aged 12 and 16 years old, on charges of cow slaughter in Khatauli area of Muzaffarnagar district, the minors continue to languish in prison. Nine people, including their mother, were arrested on December 29 for alleged slaughter of cows. The main accused, Naseemuddin Qureshi, the girls’ father, is still at-large.Police had also claimed to seize 10 quintals of meat from their possession.
The two girls were shown as adults in court and dispatched to the Muzaffarnagar district jail instead of sending them to a juvenile home. Politics had heated up following the arrests with several parties condemning the imprisonment of the minors. Local residents had also gathered in large numbers and held a protest.
Muzaffarnagar police had earlier admitted that they did not furnish Aadhaar card details of the minors in court as proof to verify their ages. A week after the arrest, officers said they had “guessed” that the girls were adults by their “physical appearance”. But witnesses that TOI met who had attended the wedding of Naseemuddin and Shehzadi in Jasola village here in Khatauli in 2001confirmed that the girls were minors.
“The girls were granted bail in an attempt to murder case but are still in jail on charges of cow slaughter. Their bail plea was recently rejected by a local court,” said Rajeev Kumar Singh, Khatauli circle officer.
Station house officer of Khatauli police station, Ambika Bhardwaj, had said, “They had attacked us with knives and other sharp-edged weapons.” She had also claimed that they were tipped off about the cow slaughter that was taking place in Vakeel Qureshi’s residence, elder brother of Naseemuddin.
Vakeel is already in jail in another cow slaughter case.