State sponsored lynch mobs
While PM Modi is still recovering from the hug of love by Rahul Gandhi, fake Gau Rakshaks have murdered an innocent farmer in Alwar, Rajasthan. This gruesome incident has occurred just a week after Supreme Court’s concern about such cases being on the rise, like a fresh challenge to the law and order system.
The family of the murdered guy has said he was a cattle rearer and not a cattle trader. We don’t know whether the ones who killed him ever reared cattle in their homes, but the fellow who was done to death was surely someone who reared cattle at his house. And with great effort, the home minister, and the CM of Rajasthan have somewhat condemned the incident.
The police seem to have been forced to pretend to register a case, and have somehow managed to arrest a few people. But last year, when an old man called Pehlu Khan was killed at the hands of Sangh Parivar goondas, the police had failed in bringing the culprits to book. And they also ensured the dying declaration of Pehlu Khan was documented in a twisted manner and the killers got away without undergoing any punishment. The family that was dependent on dairy farming, has now moved away from their occupation.
Many muslims in the Alwar region are engaged in dairy farming. They are the true Gau Rakshaks in the spirit of the word. But today, they face threats owing to the dangerous rise of fake Gau Rakshaks. Today, the same incident has repeated in Alwar and even in this, rumours indicate the big role played by the police. The old man is said to have died by the blows rained on him by the police, in order to save the Sangh Parivar goons who attacked him, assaulted him and brought him to the police. The assault then has continued in the police station too and the old man was taken to the hospital after that.
According to some sources, the miscreants assaulted the aged man right before the police. But now with political pressure, the police are forced to arrest the fake Gau Rakshaks. As per the NDTV report, the cops didn’t show much interest in taking him to the hospital. They had even stopped for tea enroute to the hospital.
Not just that, they even took the cattle to where they belonged earlier, left them there and then proceeded to take the assaulted person to the hospital. This shows how serious they were about saving the man’s life, and this murder can be called a joint operation between the cops and the fake Gau Rakshaks. With this being the case, who would the Supreme Court indicate that the state acts against to contain such incidents? These Gau Rakshaks weren’t born out of nowhere. They are the destructive force that the politics of this time have been breeding. And the state is even sponsoring this violence by protecting them! The illegal nexus between the fake Gau Rakshaks, police, state and central government is what creates a perfect ecosphere for the violent mobs to work their way through.
To contain this, the fake Gau Rakshaks and the power they enjoy, needs to be completely eradicated from the legal system of the state. How can they even be punished when the central government stands to protect them? Just a few months ago, a similar incident was played out in Udupi, just as it happened in Alwar. An old man, Husenabba was dumped into a tribal settlement by none other than the police themselves. They later pretended to find the body and claim he died of ‘heart attack’. But owing to a few honest officers in the department, the truth came to light and it was found that the police were part of this ‘murder’.
Despite the caution sounded by the Supreme Court, the goons in the garb of Sangh are showing all signs of taking to streets with their violent ways in Dakshina Kannada. With Lok Sabha polls fast approaching, it is imperative that they start their violent ways to polarize, create unrest and divide the Hindu and Muslim votes. A head of Vishwa Hindu Parishat, Jagadish Shenava is preparing to set up ‘Gau Raksha Dal’ in the area. And the police are yet to act on this.
His plan is to set up a ten-member Gau Raksha Dal in every village of the district. Their duty is to ‘watch’ their surroundings since cases of cattle stealing are on the rise, he claims. Who complained to him about such cases? How many complaints have been registered on this ‘increase’ in cases of stealing? He does not have details on this, but he and his rowdy gangs would want to safeguard the cattle in the district. Their main agenda, however, is to create problems for the farmers who rear cattle in their homes, and stop them from selling their cattle that they deem fit for selling.
They would want to usurp such cattle for themselves and sell them illegally to slaughter houses. By setting up Gau Raksha units, the ‘protectors’ of cows would extort the farmers who rear them, and blackmail them into parting with the cattle and sell them through their groups to slaughterhouses. Along with this, they would want to kill Muslims engaged in this trade to create tense situations, and extort money from people in Karavali. This is the method of ‘Gau Raksha’ as envisaged by Shenava and his group members.
The police needs to act swiftly and ensure Shevana does not get too far with his plan, at least in keeping with the direction issued by the Supreme Court. The fake Gau Rakshaks are attacking the core business of dairy farming and are lending serious damage to the business. Farmers will soon move away from this livelihood earning method. Hence, to ensure the cattle are cared for, fake Gau Rakshaks have to be put behind bars.
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Death of 10 elephants in MP: Samples being sent to UP for probe; CM chairs high-level meet
Bhopal (PTI): Samples collected in connection with the death of 10 elephants in three days in Madhya Pradesh's Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve are being sent to ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Uttar Pradesh and a forensic laboratory in Sagar, officials have said.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Friday chaired a high-level meeting during which the government decided to send a state minister and top forest officials to Umaria to probe the elephant deaths, they said.
Meanwhile, a senior veterinarian linked to the probe cited staffers at the reserve and said the elephants fell to the ground and shivered before dying.
On Tuesday, four wild elephants were found dead in Sankhani and Bakeli under Khitoli range of the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR), while four died on Wednesday and two on Thursday.
Talking to PTI on Friday over phone from the BTR, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) L Krishnamoorthy said, "We are sending all the samples we have collected from the field and also organs, like viscera, liver, kidney, etc to the IVRI in Izatnagar in UP's Bareilly as well as the MP forensic laboratory in Sagar."
He heads the five-member committee appointed by the state government to probe the death of the tuskers in Bandhavgarh, which is spread across Umaria and Katni districts in eastern Madhya Pradesh.
Krishnamoorthy had earlier said samples (viscera) of the elephants were sent to Jabalpur-based School of Wildlife Forensic and Health (SWFH) to find out toxins, if any, and the cause of death.
He was responding to a query on whether the elephants had consumed poisonous pesticides sprayed in the field.
"Only after the reports come in we can arrive at a conclusion on the cause of the death. Post mortem reports suspect it could be due to Kodo millets," MP Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF-Wildlife) VKN Ambade told PTI.
Citing staffers at the BTR, a senior veterinarian said the pachyderms fell to the ground and shivered before dying.
A ground duty officer said the forest department has identified six farmers from whose field the jumbos ate kodo millets, adding reports will clarify if any pesticide was mixed or sprayed on the crop.
Meanwhile, a five-member team of Delhi-based Wildlife Crime Control Bureau continued their probe into the deaths on the second day on Friday.
Officials said the Nagpur-based regional officer of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, assistant inspector general of forests Nandkishore Kale, continued his investigations at the BTR.
"The state tiger strike force also visited nearby agricultural lands, paddy fields, water bodies etc in connection with the kodo millets. All the dead elephants were part of a herd of 13. One of the dead elephants was male. The remaining three in the herd are healthy. They are being monitored," another official said.
Krishnamoorthy earlier said veterinarians had suggested chances of (presence of) mycotoxins associated with kodo millets.
Mycotoxins generate cyclopiazonic acid that causes poisoning in kodo millets, he said.
The forest department's wildlife veterinarians are consulting experts of Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) Bareilly, Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Dehradun, State Forensic Science Laboratory, Sagar, and Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) Hyderabad to get details about the mycotoxins, he said.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) and special task force are investigating the case from all angles, the official added.
The Krishnamoorthy-led panel has been asked to submit its report in 10 days.
Some wildlife experts said it may be the first instance in the country when 10 elephants have died in a span of three days.
Talking about the meeting chaired by CM Yadav, an official said, "The government has decided to send minister of state for forests Dileep Ahirwar, additional chief secretary (forest) Ashok Barnwal and the state's head of forest force (HOFF) Aseem Shrivastava to Umaria district to probe the elephant deaths. They will submit their report in 24 hours."
"Strict action will be taken against the guilty. The meeting was also attended by state chief secretary Anurag Jain and Rajesh Rajora, additional chief secretary to the chief minister," he added.
