Tension gripped Punjab’s Moga district after residents woke up on Tuesday morning to find that 21 cows had been slaughtered and dumped in Bilaspur village in the district.
Eyewitnesses said the site of the slaughtered cattle was horrible with the area soaked in blood. The police have arrested at least four people in the case. The suspects, who confessed to the crime, in fact had planned to kill another 30 cows. Sources said the accused told the police that they had kept more cows at Tharaj village to slaughter them later. Given the sensitivity of the issue, the police and local administration swung into action and reached the place where the cows were kept. The cattle were rescued and shifted to a gaushala. The police are trying to ascertain the exact motive behind the horrific act.
Punjab is one of the first states in the country to enact a law for cow protection, making the offence punishable with imprisonment up to 10 years. Even a person connected in any way with the sale of a cow, purportedly for slaughter, will also be liable for penal action and imprisonment as per the provisions of the Act.
Talking to DH, Punjab BJP secretary and assistant media adviser to the Punjab government Vineet Joshi said such incidents tend to disrupt the fabric of the society and need to be dealt with an iron hand, especially when elections are round the corner.
Poll-bound Punjab earlier had plans to set up a cow memorial, which was seen as a monument of sorts to remind everyone of the state’s resolve to protect the cow.
The plan for the cow memorial, which has now been grounded, had come up after nearly 25 carcasses of slaughtered cows were found near a factory in Mansa district of the state a few years ago.
The incident had evoked strong religious sentiments with agitated people burning down the factory where animal bones were crushed for supply to drug manufacturing firms.
Meanwhile, additional police force has been deployed in the area to prevent any untoward incident.
