Chased Into A Stream: Ramban Death Puts Spotlight On Cow Vigilantism

In 2015, former BJP state president Ravinder Raina sought a complete ban on the consumption of beef and even capital punishment for the slaughter of bovine animals. Last week, the Jammu and Kashmir police arrested four people for their involvement in the drowning of a Muslim man who, while transporting cattle from Jammu to his village in Ramban, was chased and, out of fear, jumped into a stream.

Searches have continued for the last seven days, but the family has not found the body.

The incident is attributed to the growing cases of cow vigilantes attacking Muslims who are engaged in the business of cattle trade, and comes amid the vigorous push for a ban on the slaughter of bovine animals.

In Jammu and Kashmir, however, the population of a particular area determines the enforcement of laws on beef consumption. In Hindu-majority areas of the UT, the transport of bovine animals is permitted only with written permission from the Deputy Commissioner or Additional Deputy Commissioner. But in the Muslim-majority areas of Kashmir, from where Kashmiri Pandits have mostly migrated to other parts of the country after the eruption of militancy in 1989, consumption of beef is very common, with people even preferring the sacrifice of bovine animals on the occasion of Eid.

The incident of the drowning of Tanveer Ahmad Chopan, a resident of the Mundkhal area of Ramban district, has brought to the fore the cultural disparity that exists between Muslims and Hindus on the treatment of animals, but it has also been a means of vote bank politics in the Muslim-majority region.

Earlier, too, incidents of assault by cow vigilante groups on Muslims were reported from Jammu. In 2017, police arrested eleven people for their involvement in attacking a Muslim family over suspicion of transporting cattle for slaughter. In the assault, an elderly man and a minor girl were injured in the Reasi district of Jammu.

In 2019, violence broke out in Bhaderwah town of Doda district after an elderly Muslim man was shot dead by cow vigilantes, and people set some vehicles on fire to protest the killing. In 2021, a 24-year-old man was beaten to death in the Thanamandi area of Rajouri as he was coming back home with a buffalo.

Sajad Shaheen, NC MLA from Banihal, says that those people who were arrested by the police in the drowning incident of Tanveer Chopan were also involved in other incidents of assaults on Muslims who have been herding cattle in the Ramban and Banihal areas. “Earlier, there were also incidents of people getting beaten up. Tanveer was also beaten up before he jumped into a stream,” he adds.

Kashmir’s Grand Mufti, Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam, says that the incident of the drowning of the Muslim man in Ramban is highly deplorable.

Before the drowning case, several deputy commissioners in Jammu had issued directives making prior permission mandatory for transportation of bovine animals, even as some members of the BJP highlighted lax vigilance to prevent cattle smuggling for slaughter.

Last month, the district administration of Jammu banned the transportation of bovine animals without prior approval from the government. An order issued by the Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, stated that the “sentiments of one particular community are attached with the bovine animals, especially the cow, which is treated as a sacred animal,” and owing to that, there is a requirement of prior approval for the transportation of bovine animals.

The order further referred to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, Transport of Animals Welfare Rules, 1978, and Transport of Animals on Foot (Amendment) Rules, 2001, which require taking preventive measures for implementation of “animal welfare laws” and stipulate stringent action over their violation.

The order further read that “some preventive measures” are needed to avoid law and order problems in the future and cited the powers under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) to make written permission from the District Magistrate, Jammu, or the Additional District Magistrate, Jammu, mandatory for transporting bovine animals from Jammu to other districts.

“Any person who contravenes this order shall be liable to be punished in accordance with the provisions of Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS),” the order added.

Under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, if a person “beats, kicks, over-rides, over-loads, tortures or otherwise treats any animal so as to subject it to unnecessary pain,” they will incur a fine or imprisonment of three months.

A penal action can also be taken if one carries an animal in any vehicle “in such a manner or position as to subject it to unnecessary pain or suffering.”

Under the Transport of Animals Welfare Rules, a certificate by a veterinary surgeon is required stating that the cattle are in a fit condition to travel and are not suffering from any “infectious or contagious or parasitic diseases.”

Similarly, under the Transport of Animals on Foot (Amendment) Rules, 2001, a certificate from a veterinary doctor is required that specifies that the animal to be transported on foot is healthy and in good condition, and is not suffering from any disease.

Legal expert Aslam Goni, however, says that there was little awareness about existing animal welfare laws and the need for permission to transport cattle. “How would people take permission if they are rearing one or two animals and need to take them from one place to another?” he asks.

“People rear cows for milk, and there are also committees and organisations that have been created at different levels in Jammu that take care of the cows if the people are poor and can’t keep them once they stop giving milk,” says BJP MLA Devender Kumar Manyal. He says that there is a need to strengthen vigilance across the Jammu region to prevent the smuggling of bovine animals.

“If there are restrictions on the consumption of beef, then how is it getting exported? Also, Muslims sacrifice bovine animals and consume their meat in Kashmir, especially on the occasion of Eid, and we can’t be prevented from performing our religious obligations,” says Nasir-ul-Islam.