
File image of burnt Vehicles after mob violence broke out in Bulandshahr District of Uttar Pradesh
| Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy
Six-and-a-half years after a police inspector and a youth were killed in violence that broke out over alleged cow slaughter in a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district, a local court on Friday (August 1, 2025) convicted five accused to life imprisonment and 33 to seven years of rigorous imprisonment.
Special government counsel Yashpal Singh Raghav said those convicted for murder and given life imprisonment were Prashant Nat, Rahul, David, Lokendra Singh and Johnny.
Among the 33 who got seven-year jail term are local Bajrang Dal leader Yogesh Raj and former Rashtriya Rifles jawan Jeetendra Malik, who were earlier named by the police as key conspirators and booked for murder.
On December 3, 2018, a group of villagers in Siyana claimed to have found the carcass of a cow in a field. Alleging cow slaughter, they placed the carcass on a tractor and blocked the highway outside the Chingravati police outpost in Siyana in protest. Inspector Subodh, posted at that police station, reached the spot and tried to pacify the mob but it started throwing stones at the policemen and set the local police outpost on fire. Some people also fired at the policemen. Mr. Subodh and a 20-year-old local resident, Sumit Kumar, were injured in the firing and died.
The police had booked 44 persons, including students, farmers, and right-wing group members, for the violence. Five of them died during the trial.
“The 33 persons were given seven years of imprisonment for attempt to murder and rioting of the Criminal Law Amendment Act,” Mr. Raghav said.
Published – August 02, 2025 12:52 am IST