Mother of cow slaughter suspect killed during raid
HT Correspondent
LUCKNOW: A 50-year-old woman died from a bullet injury during a police raid in Uttar Pradesh’s Siddharthnagar district, senior police officers said on Sunday, adding that a case of murder has been registered against unnamed policemen.
The incident t ook place around 10.30pm on Saturday when the local police along with a special operations group went to the Islamnagar village in the district to arrest the woman’s son Abdul Rehman, a suspect in a cow slaughter case, said a senior police officer, requesting anonymity. “The suspect’s mother, Roshni, woke up and started opposing the arrest of her son. Soon, other villagers also woke up and attacked the police party,” the officer said. “They also opened fire, forcing police to resort to retaliatory firing.”
While the woman’s family alleged that she was killed in police firing, the senior officer added: “It is yet to be established how the woman died.”
A first information report (FIR) under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered against some unknown policemen at the Sadar police station in the district based on claims made by villagers, said Siddarthnagar deputy superintendent of police Pradeep Kumar Yadav.
The woman’s relatives in their police complaint have alleged that police personnel first threatened to shoot Roshni when she tried to rescue her son and later opened fire. A cross FIR under IPC sections 146 (rioting) and 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) has also been registered against about 20 villagers, said Dharmendra Kumar Yadav, Siddarthnagar police spokesperson.
“Investigation is underway to establish if the woman died in police firing or by bullets fired by the villagers,” he added.
Abdul Rehman’s brother Atiq-ur Rahman and Farooq said they were not aware of the crime for which the police had come to arrest their brother. Heavy security has been deployed in the village to check any untoward incident, a senior officer said.