JOIN USSC: Can't pull up police for violence by gau rakshaks
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused a plea to haul up individual police officers for any incident of violence in the name of cow protection.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra said, “The states will take care of it. We don’t want to pass any order right now.”
The court’s response came as senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, appearing for activist Tehseen S Poonawalla, said police officers should be made accountable if such incidents are reported from a particular area. “If one police officer is held responsible, things would get sorted out,” Hegde said.
He was arguing on a PIL challenging different state laws, including that of Karnataka, granting immunity from prosecution to individuals (gau rakshaks) involved in the protection of cows.
Hegde’s bid to name Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was also shot down by the bench.
Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat, said Hegde’s aim was to hit headlines in the media. Hegde, for his part, said all the incidents relating to violence in the name of cow protection had already hit headlines.
The court, however, asked the Centre as well as the states of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand to file their response in six weeks.
Notably, the Karnataka government has defended before the court its law granting protection to gau rakshaks for prevention of cow slaughter.
In an affidavit, the state had maintained the act done only in “good faith” was protected under the law, and was not a violent or criminal activity aimed at bringing disharmony between communities.
The PIL had sought directions to declare as unconstitutional the provisions in the laws of Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand that granted recognition to vigilante groups for cow protection.
During the hearing, Hegde also referred to a recent incident of violence in Delhi.