Indian police arrest three Muslim women over beef allegation
Muslim family in Uttar Pradesh targeted under India's cow protection law after police filed criminal case despite forensic tests yet to confirm seized meat
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — Police in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh have arrested three Muslim women after raiding their home over allegations they were cooking beef.
They were charged before forensic authorities had confirmed whether the seized meat was actually beef, underscoring the aggressive enforcement of anti-cow slaughter laws that disproportionately affect Muslims.
The women — Shama Parveen, Shaista and Fatima — were arrested after police raided their home in Kaushambi district, a largely rural area in Uttar Pradesh near the border with Madhya Pradesh, following a tip-off alleging that a Muslim family was cooking beef inside the house.
According to the local media, authorities have registered criminal charges despite confirming that laboratory tests on the seized meat are still pending.
Police said officers led by Deputy Superintendent Abhishek Singh searched the house after what they described as verification of the complaint. According to police, four men fled through the village’s narrow lanes before officers entered the residence, while the three women were detained by female police personnel.
During the raid, police claimed to have recovered about one kilogram of cooked meat from a container and another kilogram of raw meat stored in a plastic bag. Officers said the women told investigators the meat had been brought by male members of their family from outside the district.
However, police also acknowledged that both samples have been sent to a forensic laboratory to establish whether the meat is beef. Despite the absence of laboratory confirmation, authorities registered a criminal case against the women under the Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, a law that imposes severe penalties for slaughtering cows or possessing beef.
Police said they are searching for the women’s husbands and another man from the neighborhood who reportedly work in Mumbai and had recently returned to Kaushambi. Investigators are also attempting to identify the source of the meat and determine whether similar purchases had been made previously.
The case reflects the increasingly strict enforcement of cow protection laws in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, where the Hindu nationalist government of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has intensified crackdowns on alleged cow slaughter since coming to power.
Muslim rights groups and civil liberties advocates have repeatedly argued that such laws are enforced disproportionately against Muslims, with arrests and criminal prosecutions often taking place before forensic evidence confirms whether seized meat is actually beef.
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