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Jharkhand: Principal jailed for cooking ‘beef’ in school kitchen
An aide of the principal who allegedly supplied her the meat too was arrested.
Ranchi:
Principal of a government school in Jharkhand’s Pakur district was arrested on Saturday on charges of hurting religious sentiments by cooking beef at the institute, police said.
Her aide, one Birju Hansda, who ostensibly supplied the bovine meat to her at the school, too was arrested.
They were later sent to the jail after being produced to the chief judicial magistrate’s court.
The meat was sent to lab to ascertain whether it was cow, oxen or buffalo meat, said Pakur deputy commissioner Dilip Kumar Jha.
“It was not mutton for sure,” he added.
The action was taken against the principal Rosa Hansda based on complaints lodged by students on Friday.
She was accused of cooking the meat at the school’s kitchen where mid-day meals for students are cooked.
After receiving complaints from students, the DC had sent a team of circle officer and cops to the school at Malpahadi, about 400 kilometer from capital Ranchi, to look into the allegation.
Prima facie, the team found students’ allegations to be true, the DC said.
Earlier this month, an FIR was lodged against Jamshedpur-based college professor Jeetrai Hansda for proposing to host a “beef party” in his Facebook post.
Jharkhand government had introduced the Prevention of Cow Slaughter Ordinance in 2005, which was later made an Act. It carries a penalty of Rs 5,000 and imprisonment of up to five years or both for offenders.
The state’s present Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government on April 7 imposed a ban on illegal abattoirs, a move seen as an effort to cut down on cow slaughter and beef trade.
Frequent protests by far-right Hindu groups demanding a complete ban on beef, coupled with raids conducted by cow vigilantes have caused unrest in several parts of the state, especially Dhanbad and Giridih.
“The meat was not meant for the students. It was for her personal consumption,” Pakur superintendent of police Shailendra Barnwal said.
