Team Clarion
NEW DELHI –A group of cow vigilantes belonging to far-right Hindutva body Sri Ram Sene attacked beef traders and set ablaze their vehicle on Sunday leading the police to arrest 15 persons allegedly involved in the incident.
The traders were transporting beef from Hindupur in Andhra Pradesh to Bangalore when the incident occurred, according to a viral video. The goons, dressed in saffron scarves, intercepted four pickup trucks and a mini goods vehicle, surrounding the traders and chanting aggressively ‘Jai Shri Ram’. The video purportedly showed the traders being paraded on the road along severed heads of cattle on their heads.
Another video shows four people, believed to be beef traders, sitting inside a vehicle while some cow protectors kept shouting at them. The situation escalated when the vigilantes set a vehicle on fire and the traders were made to sit on the road.
According to sources, Doddaballapur police reached the spot and brought the situation under control. The police had to resort to lathi charges to disperse the crowd. “We have registered three FIRs in connection with the incident, and 22 people have been detained,” Bengaluru rural superintendent of police (SP) Mallikarjuna Baladandi told the reporters. The police claimed to have seized 18 tonnes of beef worth over ₹26 lakhs from the five vehicles, he said.
Baladani added that the police arrested 15 persons accused of attacking the traders. The police also arrested seven traders for transporting beef.
The police also registered a case at CEN police station under IT act 66 against the accused who spread the video clips on social media.
“Sri Ram Sene vigilantes were booked under section 153 A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race) and the beef transporters under Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughtering and Preservation Act. No arrests have been made under the IT act,” he said.
They were also booked for extortion, assault and arson, according to The Times of India.
Sundaresh Nagaral, general secretary of district unit Sri Ram Sene told reporters that they were informed about beef transportation. Then, they came to intercept these vehicles.
According to the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, 2020, passed by the previous BJP government in the state, slaughter of cattle as “cow, calf of a cow and bull, bullock, and he or she buffalo” is banned.
Under the earlier 1964 Act, only the killing of “any cow or calf of she-buffalo” was banned. The 2020 law does not permit the slaughter of “bullocks, and male or female buffaloes” as well.
The Congress said that it would repeal the 2020 law after coming to power, but it has not taken any step yet in that regard.
