Cow Slaughter Disturbs 'Even Tempo Of Life', Spontaneously Evokes Violent Reactions: Allahabad High Court Upholds NSA Detention

The Allahabad High Court last week upheld the detention of a person under the National Security Act (NSA), 1980, who has been accused of slaughtering a cow and two calves in the jungle around the time of Holi in 2025.A bench of Justice JJ Munir and Justice Sanjiv Kumar observed that the slaughtering of a cow spontaneously evokes strong emotions and violent reactions for obvious injury to the religious beliefs of a large section of society.The Court added that such an act has immediate and widespread ramifications in society, almost always leading to widespread violence that takes a toll on a tranquil society and throws life out of gear."There are some issues, where the community is sensitive to the extent that if these surface, there is an inherent potentiality of creating widespread ripples in society that would affect the even tempo of life. One of them is cow slaughter," the bench remarked in its order.Noting that the act has the potential to disturb the even tempo of life and constitutes a violation of public order, the bench found the Detaining Authority to be absolutely justified in passing the detention order, thinking that the petitioner could indulge in activity prejudicial to the maintenance of public order upon his release from jail. Thus, the bench dismissed the habeas corpus petition filed by the petitioner-Sameer challenging his detention, which was ordered by the District Magistrate of Shamli under Section 3(3) of the NSA and subsequently confirmed by the State Government.Case in briefBriefly put, as per the prosecution's case, on March 15, 2025, the police party discovered the remains of cows' progeny in a field in a village in Shamli district. Since the festival of Holi was underway, the incident led to unrest among the Hindu population, prompting the deployment of forces to maintain peace.The police claimed that an enraged crowd comprising local villagers and workers from various Hindu organisations gathered at the site, and they shouted slogans demanding the immediate arrest of the offenders responsibleApparently, they also completely blockaded a road leading to a long queue of vehicles on both sides of the blockade. The passersby and the travellers were much troubled. This jamming of the road on account of the blockade lasted for long hours, in consequence of which public order in the area was affected. The bench was apprised that the Police had to camp in many villages to ensure that public order disturbed by this incident could be restored.Following a police investigation, the petitioner and his associates were arrested and they confessed to slaughtering a cow and two calves in the jungle. Now, while the accused were incarcerated, allegedly, the police received the intelligence that the petitioner was actively trying to secure his release on bail and had sent messages from jail that upon being released, he would again commit cow slaughter and that the Police could not harm him.In view of this, apprehending that he could secure bail from the HC (while he was denied relief from the District Court), the impugned detaining order was passed against him.Before the HC, the petitioner argued that the offence attributed to him is a petty offence, triable by a magistrate, which, even if established to have been committed by him, would constitute "no more than a violation of the law and order". Thus, it was submitted that the NSA detention was unwarranted.The state government's counsel, on the other hand, defended the impugned order.HC's observationsAgainst the backdrop of these submissions, the division bench noted that cow slaughter is an issue where the community is highly sensitive and that it has immediate and widespread ramifications in society, almost always leading to widespread violence.In this regard, the bench stressed that this act of Cow Slaughter disturbs the even tempo of life in the locale or maybe beyond, in larger areas and causes prejudice to public order. In this regard, the bench relied upon a 2002 order of the HC in Shaukat Ali v. Union of India and others wherein it was noted that cow slaughter foments communal tension, brings disharmony and results in a situation that leads to disturbance of public order"...it is not that these are matters of historical record to be read in books or fancied about in contemporary world. Violent reactions at the happening of cow slaughter are so well reputed that no one can feign ignorance of the fact, violation of the law apart. Public order is after all not about what the intention of the individual was, or what law he has violated. It is about the impact that his act generates," the bench remarked.The bench also addressed the argument as to whether a man already in jail could be detained preventively. It referred to the Supreme Court's ruling in Kamarunnissa versus Union of India to note that the authority can validly pass a detention order against such a person if there is a real possibility of their release on bail and reliable material ...

Cow Slaughter Disturbs 'Even Tempo Of Life', Spontaneously Evokes Violent Reactions: Allahabad High Court Upholds NSA Detention

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Cow Slaughter Disturbs 'Even Tempo Of Life', Spontaneously Evokes Violent Reactions: Allahabad High Court Upholds NSA Detention

Sparsh Upadhyay

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