Anti-cow slaughter bill passed in Karnataka Assembly amid din
Bengaluru: Amid bedlam, the controversial anti-cow slaughter bill was passed in the Karnataka Assembly on Wednesday, with the Congress members staging a walkout in protest.
The bill known as the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill-2020 seeks a total ban on the slaughter of cows in the state and stringent punishment to those who indulge in smuggling, illegal transportation, atrocities on cows and slaughtering them, BJP sources said.
"Yes, the bill has been passed in the Assembly," Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhuswamy told PTI.
Besides cows and calves, the bill also intends to protect buffaloes and their calves less than 12 years of age.
There is a provision to set up special courts for the speedy trial of the accused people.
It also makes provision for setting up Goshala or cattle-sheds for the protection of livestock. Police have been given powers to conduct checking.
The law also gives protection to those who protect these livestock. The bill was passed without any discussion as there was din in the House. The Congress later staged a walkout in protest.
Earlier, when Animal Husbandry Minister Prabhu Chavan tabled the bill in the evening, Congress MLAs led by leader of the opposition Siddaramaiah trooped into the well of the House.
They alleged the bill was not discussed for tabling in the Business Advisory Committee meeting.
"We had discussed yesterday that new bills will not be tabled.We had agreed that only the ordinances will be passed.
Now he (Prabhu Chavan) has all-of-a-sudden introduced this anti-cow slaughter bill," Siddaramaiah said.
However, Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri said he had clearly said in the meeting that important bills will be tabled on Wednesday and Thursday.
Not convinced with the reply, the Congress MLAs trooped into the well of the House and raised slogans against the BJP government.
The Congress has expressed fears that the bill, if passed, may be misused for polarisation on communal lines and target the minorities.
On the other hand, the BJP has been saying the bill is to protect the cows which are holy to the Hindus.
To make the provisions of the proposed law stringent, Chavan had referred to similar laws in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.
A team of officials led by Chavan had recently visited Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, where the law has been enacted, to study its implementation.
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MP boat tragedy: Death toll rises to 10 with recovery of one more body; 3 tourists still missing
Jabalpur (PTI): The body of a child was retrieved on Saturday evening from Bargi Dam in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy that took place two days ago to ten, while search continued for three missing tourists.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening with some of the survivors alleging negligence and safety lapses such as life jackets not being distributed in time.
The body recovered on Saturday evening was possibly that of six-year-old Viraj Soni, said Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra.
"The identity will be confirmed after family members identify the body," he told PTI.
Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory at Khamaria, his five-year-old son Tamil, and another child Mayuram (5) who had come from southern India were still missing.
Authorities have arranged equipment to search deep waters of the dam and are getting a generator to facilitate diving operations, Mishra added.
Divers and disaster response teams have expanded the search radius to five km, he said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the ill-fated vessel, 28 were rescued, police said.
More than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, joined the search operation that resumed at 5 on Saturday morning. The operation, involving the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, was briefly affected at around 9 am due to strong winds, officials said.
Post-mortem examinations of nine deceased persons have been completed, Mishra said.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will also register a First Information Report in the case soon," he said.
Police said CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat while the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the tragedy and dismissed three crew members. It also banned operation of similar vessels in the state.
