Two weeks after Inspector Subodh Kumar was killed in a mob violence on December 3rd over alleged cow slaughter in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr, five more people have been arrested of which three were named for cow slaughter. The other two were arrested for their involvement in the mob violence that same day. Ironically the main accused in the killing of the police officer is still at large. The impunity is such that this accused is posting videos from his hide-out. Subodh Kumar’s widow who has been inconsolable since her husband died questioned if what her husband had done in investigating the Akhlaq murder case was really worth it when she is now waiting for justice in vain. She and her two sons have accused the Adityanath Government of protecting the killers. The Yogi has meanwhile given a completely new twist to this episode. After three people, Nadeem, Raees and Kala accused of being part of a cow hunting gang were arrested, Adityanath said the mob violence was a political conspiracy against his government which is now ‘exposed.’
Such a shallow analysis of the events of December 3, expose the shabby attempt to politicize the entire episode instead of going after those involved in the murder. This is unbecoming of a Chief Minister whose brief is to enforce the rule of law and not to give a political twist to a murder most foul. Adityanath now wants people to thank his government for having found and arrested the cow hunting gang even as the main accused in the gunning down of Inspector Subodh Kumar is still missing. Adityanath has made things worse by calling the murder an “accident” (durghatna)
Yogi Adityanath had been roundly criticised for showing more concern for cows than for human lives when he ordered senior police officials to arrest the cow slaughterers, after the police inspector’s murder. The Yogi said that it was the cow carcasses which had provoked the mob violence. Clearly under the BJP regime Uttar Pradesh has returned to lawlessness which was what the Akhilesh Yadav government was accused of earlier on. Restoring the rule of law demands that the government remain non-partisan especially when dealing with law breakers. This is not happening in Uttar Pradesh where cow protectors are more equal than the rest.