On February 10, Swati Goel Sharma, a journalist with Swarajya, shared pictures of an illegal slaughterhouse in Mantola locality in Agra. She had said that the slaughterhouse was located in a residential area. Goel said that she was stopped from taking more pictures by the local residents as it would “endanger” her life.
This is an illegal slaughterhouse bang in the middle of the residential colony in Mantola. I managed to take two photos but residents stopped me from clicking more pics. They said it would endanger my life
Imagine living in such fear pic.twitter.com/tpeN5fcPdt
— Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) February 10, 2019
Taking cognizance of her tweet, Agra Police responded two days later that the illegal slaughterhouse has been sealed. In addition, seven people have been booked under various sections of the IPC and sent to jail.
आज प्रशासन व @agrapolice की संयुक्त कार्यवाही में उक्त परिसर को सील कर दिया गया व थाना मंटोला पर अ0स0 07/19 धारा 11 पशु क्रूरता निवारण अधि0, धारा 63 खाद्य सुरक्षा एवं मानक अधि0, धारा 15 पर्यावरण संरक्षण अधि0 एवं धारा 4/25 शस्त्र अधि0 पंजीकृत कर 7 व्यक्तियों को जेल भेजा गया है।
— AGRA POLICE (@agrapolice) February 12, 2019
The tweet was posted in a thread where Sharma was discussing her recent Ground Report from Agra’s Mantola. Sharma had reported how Hindus, who are in the minority in the area, “lack in resources and live in fear.”
In the detailed report, Sharma says that communal flare-ups are extremely frequent in the area. The latest communal flare-up in the area, which is the subject of Sharma’s report, could lead to an exodus of Hindus from the locality.
In her report, Sharma states, “A closer look at the situation in Mantola throws up a case study in changing demographics of an area. It also shows that what we commonly understand of majority-minority equations for the country as a whole may not be true for individual states, villages and even tiny localities.”
