Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, 44, and civilian Sumit Kumar, 20, of Chingrawathi village were killed of gunshot injuries in the violence.
 
The National Security Act has been invoked by the Bulandshahr district administration against 3 accused arrested in the December 3 cow slaughtering case in Siyana tehsil, according to news agency PTI.
 
Uttar Pradesh BJP Governed state administrative machinery    said   Cattle carcasses were found strewn in the fields outside village Mahaw in Siyana on December 3 after which a mob went on the rampage, attacking the local Chingrawathi police post.
 
Two separate FIRs were registered one for the violence in which nearly 80 people including 27 named and the other for cow slaughter at the Siyana police station.
 
District magistrate Anuj Jha said “Yes,” in response to a PTI query on whether the stringent NSA was invoked against those arrested in the cow slaughter case

“Their actions hurt the sentiments of Hindus in the area… This had disturbed public order and communal harmony,” said Bulandshahr district magistrate Anuj Kumar Jha. He added that the three applied for bail, which was rejected.

A district administration official, who asked not to be named, said the police feared the perpetrators could slaughter more cows and that “this may cause serious threat to law and order, peace and communal harmony in the area. Therefore, it has been decided to book them under NSA,” added the officials.

Afaq Ahmad, advocate for the three accused, said they had been falsely implicated in the cow slaughter case. “I have not received a copy of NSA against them. If it is true, we will challenge the decision,” he added.

The NSA is usually invoked in far more serious cases involving matters of national security, although the law gives administrators and police officials wide leeway in its use. Late last year, a Manipuri journalist was held under NSA and jailed for a year for criticising the local government.

Violence in Bulandshahr’s Mahav village on December 3 saw mobs of right-wing Hindu groups to go on a violent protest. One of the protesters is believed to have shot dead the local police station in-charge Subodh Kumar, while a local resident was killed as cops opened fire to tackle the situation.

The use of NSA comes at a time when the UP police and the government are accused of going easy on the suspects, including Yokesh Raj, the district coordinator of Bajrang Dal, a hardline group affiliated to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Over the weekend, local Bajrang Dal members put up posters featuring the faces of Raj and several others accused in the December violence. The group’s western UP region co-convenor Praveen Bhati, whose photo also appears in the hoardings, said the hoardings carry pictures of local functionaries group. “Also, they all are accused in the case, not guilty. It is for the court to decide. Putting pictures of organisation’s office bearers on hoardings is not a crime,” Bhati told PTI

The murder of inspector Kumar is part of a separate investigation from the case against the alleged cattle traders who were booked under NSA