JOIN US9 hurt in clash over cow transportation
Nine persons, including two policemen were injured and many vehicles damaged when violence broke out at Islampura near Annasandrapalya in HAL police station limits late Thursday night after a group of animal activists attempted to prevent cows from being transported to an undisclosed location.
Around 6 pm, animal rights activist Joshine Antony spotted a truck carrying 15 cows moving towards Annasandrapalya. She followed the truck and noticed the cows being released at a grazing yard. She approached the HAL police and expressed suspicion that cows are being taken to a slaughterhouse at Islampura. She requested the police to rush to the “illegal” slaughterhouse and save the cattle.
A police constable went to the spot along with Antony to check the matter.
Around 8.30 pm a group of 15 animal activists also reached Annasandrapalya on being alerted.
The constable sought for additional force as more than 100 persons, said to be slaughterhouse workers, had gathered at the grazing yard by then. The HAL police inspector K B Vishwanath and 12 policemen rushed to the spot.
Some people in the crowd shouted down the animal activists thinking that they were members of the BJP and Sangha Parivar.
R Rahul, an eyewitness, said the situation turned hostile soon after the police decided to shift the cows to a goshala.
Vehicles damaged
“The men in the crowd abused us and suddenly attacked us with stones and damaged our vehicles. Some of us were injured in the melee and a few others rushed to a safer place. I saw two constables being badly thrashed by the mob,” Antony told Deccan Herald. Some time later, the police provided escort to the activists and put them in police vehicles. “But the mob chased the vehicles and molested me and tore off my clothes before the police took us to a safer place,” she claimed.
The police and the activists shifted the injured to HAL hospital and Chinmaya Mission Hospital. Krishna Hathwar, 27, of Annasandrapalya, has been hospitalised and his condition is stated to be critical. The other injured persons were treated as out-patients. Additional force were deployed at the grazing yard and slaughterhouse to prevent untoward incidents. The police inspector and his team reportedly left the place once the violence broke out. The police have registered a rioting case based on a complaint by Antony and arrested the five residents of Islampura. All of them are connected with slaughterhouses, the HAL inspector said.
Home Minister K J George and Bangalore City Police Commissioner Raghavendra H Auradkar visited the hospital. They promised action against those responsible for the incident.