West Bengal books first case against cow vigilantism

Cow Development Cell linked to RSS, BJP

In its first ever case against ‘cow vigilantes’, the West  Bengal government has lodged an FIR against seven people for conducting a cow survey.

The persons booked under the non-bailable case are all members of the Cow Development Cell, a body affiliated to the BJP and backed by the RSS.

According to officials, the case has been lodged against Subrata Gupta, president of the cell and a known face of the BJP at West Midnapore. Of the other six named in the FIR — Animesh Pahari, Krishnapada Bose, Pradyut Bhunia, Bidhubhushan Dey, Gurupada Sen and Subrata Barik — two are well-known RSS activists from the district and have been known to organise public events related to cow preservation and running campaigns against illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

“All seven of them, under Gupta’s leadership, organised a programme on ‘cow development’ and had set up a subsidised loan camp under the central scheme, Rashtriya Gokul Mission, on July 31. They had been part of an RSS team that had launched the state’s first ‘cow survey’, along the lines of similar surveys in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. They have also been known to threaten some Muslim cattle dealers in the district,” a senior police official said.

Elaborating on the complaint, the senior police official said that in the FIR lodged at the district’s Belda police station, the seven accused have been booked under 12 sections of the IPC in which the Prevention of Seditious Meetings Act, 1911, and two other sections are non-bailable. Although the accused applied for anticipatory bail at Midnapore court on Tuesday, it has been denied, with the date of next hearing set for August 18.

While a senior bureaucrat admitted that the FIR is a historic step at a time the Sangh and its affiliates are using consumption of beef as a political tool, senior Trinamool Congress leader and minister, Firhad Hakim, pointed out that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had cautioned the Sangh and its affiliates against such activities from the dais of her July 21 rally.