In a shocking incident a few days before, police jailed two minor Muslim girls on charges of cow slaughter in Khatauli town of western Uttar Pradesh. The incident took place on December 29, when two girls, reportedly aged 12 and 16, were arrested by the police. Later, the police produced them in the court, claiming they were adults. The girls Sheeba and Shahiba are still in jail. The main accused Naseemuddin fled while his entire family was jailed.
Meanwhile the local corporator Haji Ajaj Ahamed claimed that the girls were minor as their parents got married in 2001. By that standard, the girls are minor and should have been sent to a juvenile home. He said that documents pertaining to their ages are being procured so that it could be proved in the court that they are minors. The locals are also trying to get the marriage certificates of these girls' parents so that could have some more concrete proof.
Meanwhile, according to unconfirmed reports, the Aadhaar cards of the two girls show their dates of birth as 2005 and 2001 respectively. Another local Shadab Ahmed said the police were falsely trying to implicate the girls in this case by showing that they were not under-age
The locals of Khatauli are quite angry over the arrests of these girls. The station officer of Khatauli Police station, Ambika Prasad Bhardwaj, claims that those arrested by the police were involved in slaughtering of cows for quite sometime
During the arrest, the cops recovered meat and hides of five cows from the site of crime. He also claimed by their physical appearance girls did not look underage and the police went on arresting them
SSP Ajay Sehdev said an inquiry was being conducted to ascertain the real age of girls and appropriate action will be taken once the inquiry is over. However, he confirmed that there have been previous cases of cow slaughter against the main accused Naseemuddin.