Vigilantes Beat Up Tamil Nadu Officials Transporting Cows From Rajasthan

Jaipur: In yet another case of cow vigilantism, around 50 villagers in Rajasthan’s Barmer district attacked officials and staff from Tamil Nadu, tried to torch their vehicles and blocked the highway on the suspicion of cow smuggling.

The officials from Tamil Nadu’s Animal Husbandry Department had purchased 50 cows and calves from Jaisalmer and had all the required permissions from the sub-divisional magistrate and documents to transport them out of the state, PTI reported.

However, a mob stopped the five trucks at 11:30 pm on Sunday, claiming that cattle were being transported illegally. The villagers thrashed the drivers and cleaners in the lorries and pelted stones at the vehicles. Two officials were reportedly seriously injured in the incident.

When police reached the spot, the mob raised slogans and also clashed with the cops. Policemen who tried to disperse the crowd was also attacked and cops had to lathicharge to control the situation. The National Highway 15 remained blocked for nearly three hours, police said.

Four persons have been arrested for the attack and action against seven policemen, including a police inspector, has been taken for allegedly not taking the matter seriously and reaching the spot late last night, a senior police official said. A case has been registered against 50 others on charges of assault.

The CPI (M) flayed the BJP after for the attack, saying that the ruling party’s “divisive” politics is detrimental to the country’s social fabric.

“BJP’s divisive politics, the environment of hate fostered by it and no governance, spells hell for our social fabric (sic),” CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury wrote on Twitter.

This is the second major incident of violence by cow vigilantes in Rajasthan in the last two months. On April 1, Pehlu Khan, a cattle trader from Haryana was brutally assaulted by gau rakshaks. He succumbed to his injuries two days later.