38 cattle 'force released' from Pinjrapole triggers flash stir

Alleging high handedness by K R Police, in the release of 38 cattle from Mysore Pinjrapole Society near the foot of Chamundi Hill on Thursday, BJP and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) workers staged a flash protest along with animal lovers attached to Mysore Pinjrapole Society, near the police commissioner’s office at Nazarbad here.

The cattle were seized by Hebbagodi police station in Anekal taluk of Bengaluru district on February 14, when the livestock was being allegedly transported to a slaughter house. It included buffaloes, cows and calves. Following the seizure of the cattle, the Hebbagodi police shifted them to Pinjrapole Society here for care and protection.

Armed with the court order, four individuals, who had collectively filed a petition in the district and sessions court, in Bengaluru, sitting at Anekal, sought the release of the cattle on Thursday morning. A policeman attached to Hebbagodi station had gone to the society along with the local K R police to facilitate the release of the livestock. This triggered chaos and confusion at the society, resulting in a flash protest.

The court convened in Anekal had ruled in favour of the petitioners on March 20, directing the police to release the cattle at the earliest. However, the Pinjrapole Society filed an appeal against the order on March 23, seeking a stay. However, the court heard the matter on March 25 and reiterated its order, directing the society to release the cattle after collecting maintenance charges (Rs 1.15 lakh). Unfazed, the society field an appeal at the High Court and the matter is expected to be taken up for hearing on Friday.

Joint Secretary of the society S Ramesh Jain alleged, “Even as the High Court has admitted the plea, the petitioners forcibly took the cattle from the society. Owing to the commotion that prevailed for sometime, the society could not even verify the identification of the cattle as the animals seized in such cases are tagged along with the related information”. Interestingly, Ramesh said, three of the cattle seized had already died and a post-mortem report is available. However, the jurisdictional K R Police were in no mood to listen.

Without availing any outpass, the cattle were loaded in 10 different vehicles and the main gate was broken open, Ramesh alleged.

DCP (law and order) Vinayak Patil, who received the memorandum from the agitators, told Deccan Herald, “The policemen have acted on the court order. There is no foul play, as alleged by the agitators”.