Violence in pretext of cattle protection; SC sheds crocodile tears
Having taken serious objection to the extra legal powers the ‘Gau Rakshaks’ seem to be exerting, Supreme Court has said this is unacceptable. The court has also said it is the responsibility of the state governments to ensure such incidents do not occur. Even the central government has issued such diktats often and said it is the state that needs to control such incidents. All law and implementing agencies know cattle protection gangs have gained a notorious reputation. But when it comes to controlling, they all fall silent. Which simply means neither of them wants to take charge of the situation and control the damage.
It’s not like people are unaware of crimes in the name of cattle safety cannot be defended. This is a common fact known to even those who perpetuate violence under this pretext. Today, the society expects governments to put stringent measures in place to protect the interest of farmers and traders from Gau Raksha gangs. The states are yet to take cognizance of these matters in a serious way. Despite a big spurt in such incidents, Supreme Court has not pulled up states for failure of law system. Which basically would mean the SC isn’t interested in putting a stop to these incidents.
Despite stating the violence in the name of Gau Raksha cannot be tolerated, the court hasn’t given any ruling to ensure the Gau Raksha groups are banned or stopped from growing further. Why is the legal system not addressing the problem of some goondas coming together in the name of cattle and running a quasi-police department? All those brandishing powers are not innocent citizens. It is well known that they associate themselves with a particular political ideology and a party that is currently in power at the centre. Is the Supreme Court that innocent so as to not understand all this propaganda behind the act of Gau Raksha?
The party that gives them impetus is running the government. And it is no secret that the benefit of creating this scare in the name of Gau Raksha is going to the party. This is a government sponsored violence and SC should have issued a warning to the police and the centre. The police are unable to act owing to the backing the Gau Rakshaks enjoy by their political godfathers. SC needs to vest the police department with the power to register suo motu complaints in those states where such incidences are high. Unless this happens, nothing can stop this violence from spreading.
Supreme Court says the victims of this crime should not be categorized under the name of a religion. But the whole assault is happening on the community that is involved in the transfer and trading of cattle. Sangh Parivar has always been looking for pretexts to launch attack on a particular religion since long. Hence it floated theories such as ‘Love Jihad’ and created volatile atmosphere in the region. They want the society to be on tenterhooks with the other religion all the time. This polarization would finally benefit them politically and socially too. How does one not associate the target of crime with one religion when the religion itself has been made the target precisely? The Supreme Court is refusing to view this as an organized crime in that sense. As long as the law making agencies refuse to see that point, there would be no respite from this crime.
The legal system is vested with responsibility of checking this crime as much as the state and the centre are. Farmers are not free to sell their cattle and traders are never free from anxiety to buy them. Dairy farming is now seeming like a burden on the poor farmer, who are now hesitating to have any more cows for the fear of being assaulted.
The prospects of dairy farming are in serious danger in rural areas owing to this rise in crime against people who rear cattle and traders who buy them. If this continues, farmers may even stop dairy farming altogether for the fear of being attacked. Hence, the Supreme Court needs to act now to put a full stop to this organized crime from spreading further.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
SIR in Gujarat: More than 17 lakh deceased voters found on electoral rolls
Ahmedabad (PTI): The ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Gujarat has revealed that more than 17 lakh deceased voters were still included in the existing voter list across the state, a release by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has stated.
According to the release issued on Thursday, the SIR exercise started in Gujarat on November 4 with booth-level officers (BLOs) distributing enumeration forms in their designated areas.
The campaign will continue till December 11.
"In the last one month, enumeration forms have been distributed to more than five crore voters registered in the 2025 electoral roll. In most of the 33 districts, 100 per cent of the distribution has been completed. Work on digitising the returned forms is currently underway. So far, the digitisation work has been completed in 12 out of 182 assembly constituencies," it said.
These include Dhanera and Tharad of Banaskantha district, Limkheda and Dahod (ST) of Dahod district, Bayad of Aravalli district, Dhoraji, Jasdan and Gondal of Rajkot district, Keshod of Junagadh district, Mehmadabad of Kheda district, Khambhat of Anand district and Jalalpore of Navsari district.
Dang district is at the forefront in this work with 94.35 per cent digitisation of the counting forms, said the release.
"During this exercise, it was revealed that 17 lakh deceased voters were still included in the electoral roll across the state. More than 6.14 lakh voters were found absent from their addresses. It has been noticed that more than 30 lakh voters have permanently migrated," the release said.
BLOs found more than 3.25 lakh voters in the "repeated" category, which means that their names figured at more than one place, the release stated.
