Cow vigilantes booked for culpable homicide bid after clash with civic staff on cow shelter removal

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| Photo Credit: FARUQUI AM

A case has been registered against some cow vigilantes for rioting and culpable homicide attempt after three civic employees were injured in a clash in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore during the removal of a cow shelter as part of an anti-encroachment drive, police said.

An employee of the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) lodged a complaint, based on which a case was registered against Vijay Kalkhor, Sanjay Mahajan, Tej Singh Rathore and others on Wednesday night, an official said.

Three IMC employees were injured in the brawl while they were removing an illegal cow shelter in Dutt Nagar on Wednesday morning.

Bajrang Dal opposed the civic body’s plan to remove the cow shelter.

Some videos of the incident surfaced on social media, in which both sides can be seen arguing while some people are seen breaking the windows of vehicles with sticks in which the cows from the cow shelter were being taken to the municipal corporation’s gaushala.

The accused were booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 191(3) (rioting armed with deadly weapons), 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 132 (assault to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and other provisions for abusing IMC employees and beating them with sticks, damaging government property by vandalising civic vehicles, the official said.

After the case was registered against the cow protectors, Bajrang Dal’s local unit convenor Praveen Darekar claimed that his organisation’s workers were not involved in the assault on municipal employees.

While cows from the nearly 30-year-old cow shelter in Dutt Nagar were being taken to the municipal corporation’s cowshed, 20-25 cows were put in a vehicle, due to which many of the animals were injured, he alleged.

The Bajrang Dal leader said, “Due to this cruelty towards cows, people of the Hindu community (present at the spot) were enraged.” The cow protectors and a seer operating the cowshed have also lodged a complaint against the civic body staffers against the police on charges of assault and animal cruelty, Darekar said, and demanded that an FIR be registered against them.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Alok Kumar Sharma said an investigation is being conducted into these complaints.

Meanwhile, city mayor Pushyamitra Bhargav visited the private hospital, where the injured municipal employees have been admitted, to enquire about the condition.

Terming the clash during the removal of the cowshed as unfortunate, he said, “We are with the municipal workers. I have spoken to the police and administration officials and asked them to ensure that such incidents do not happen in future.”