Hyderabad: With Bakrid just a week away and the livestock transportation to the city increasing, the cow protection association teams continued to stop vehicles carrying the sacrificial animals, despite police warnings.
In the last couple of days, the cattle traders confronted cow vigilante teams in at least three city suburbs. The teams stopped cattle traders at Ramachandrapuram in Sangareddy, Shadnagar, and Ibrahimpatnam in Ranga Reddy district.
In Telangana, slaughter of cows and calves are banned, but bulls and bullocks can be slaughtered if a fit-for-slaughter certificate is issued. A trader, on anonymity, said that even vehicles carrying bulls and buffaloes are being stopped illegally by ‘Gau Rakshaks’. “We face this problem every day now, as it has been getting worse from the last three to four years. It flares up during Bakrid particularly, because they know that more trucks with animals will be coming in. Ultimately, we suffer huge losses which we can’t recover from,” he explained.
On information of the clashes, AIMIM MLC Mirza Rahmath Baig intervened and booked the cases against the groups at the police stations. “After receiving complaints that Gau Rakshaks stopped vehicles and attacked cattle traders, AIMIM reached the spot and filed police complaints. Cases are being registered against them at respective police stations,” said Mirza Rahmath Baig.
The city police are maintaining a high vigil ahead of Bakrid on June 7. The police warned the gau rakshak members not to take the law into their own hands. The activists were asked to pass on any information to the officers and a quick response was assured.
The Police department already made all the arrangements to ensure that no prohibited animal is transported inside the city by setting up check-posts at all the major junctions which connect highways.
Another trader said, “The police set up check-posts in all the zones of the city, especially the south zone, to avert any possible trouble during Eid. However, despite several warnings by the police, the harassment continues by the cow protection teams.”
Earlier, on several occasions, Hyderabad City Police Commissioner CV Anand appealed to the public and Gau Rakshak members not to take the law into their own hands, emphasising that only government officials and law enforcement agencies are authorised to stop or inspect vehicles carrying animals.
