You will be killed if you smuggle or slaughter cows, said a Rajashtan BJP MLA after a mob attacked a man over alleged cow smuggling in Alwar district on Saturday.
“Mera toh seedha seedha kehna hai ki gautaskari aur gaukashi karoge to yu hi maroge (I will only say that if you smuggle and slaughter cows, then you will be killed),” Ramgarh MLA Gyan Dev Ahuja was quoted as saying byThe Indian Express.
He was reacting to the arrest of a man, identified as Zakir, for alleged cow smuggling. Zakir was also allegedly beaten up severely by a mob before he was arrested.
According to the report, members of the Meo panchayat said Zakir was severely beaten up by the mob before he was arrested.
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“I went to see Zakir in hospital and from his injuries it was obvious that he was severely beaten up before being arrested. Why does this happen time and again, when the mob takes the law into its hands?” the report quoted Chief of Alwar’s Meo panchayat, Sher Mohammad. “It is strange that the police would need help from cow vigilantes to protect the law.”
However, police denied it and said Zakir sustained injuries when he fell down while trying to flee the police.
According to the report, the police confirmed that they erected barricades on the road after getting information about trucks smuggling cows. Police said the people in the truck opened fire at the police, who retaliated by firing back. Later people thronged the area after hearing the shots. Police said there were three men in the truck out of whom two managed to escape in the dark.
