Carcasses of over a dozen bovines which were buried in a field of a government school in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior district have been recovered. According to reports, these were stray cows, which had been locked up inside a classroom of the school for a week, where they died of starvation.
The school which is located in Samudan village on Dabra-Gwalior road in Madhya Pradesh had been closed for holidays when someone locked the cows inside one of the classrooms of the school. There were 17 cattle in total, including 8 cows. After the cows died inside the locked classroom, villagers tried to bury them in a field in the village, but at that time some gau rakshaks reached the spot and created a ruckus. After that police was called who took control of the situation.
Following the incident, Bajrang Dal members protested on the streets asking for a probe into the incident.
Madhya Pradesh police have registered an FIR under MP’s anti-cow slaughter law and under provisions of cruelty to animals act against 10 unknown people and also the excavator who was engaged in digging the ground to bury the dead cows.
Gwalior, superintendent of police, Navneet Bhasin, said, “Police personnel have been deployed in the area to maintain law and order. The carcasses were buried respectfully in the outskirt of the village.”
“Prima facie, the abandoned cows were roaming at National Highway 75 and creating trouble for commuters. The villagers of Samnadan village drove them and locked in a room of a government high school a week ago,” said area sub-divisional magistrate, Dabra, Raghvendra Pandey, said.
Pandey said the villagers did not provide food and water to the cows which subsequently died. “As the foul smell of carcasses spread in the village, the villagers tried to bury them in the school premises. Some gau rakshak (cow vigilantes) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders from Dabra reached the spot and created a ruckus. Later, police and district administration reached the spot and controlled the situation,” he said.
Gwalior district collector, Anurag Chaudhary, ordered an inquiry against the school administration, village sarpanch and villagers and asked sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Dabra, to submit a report in three days.
Condemning the inhumane act, BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said: “From day one Congress-led state government is making announcements to provide safety to cows in MP but the announcement proved hollow as nothing happened in the past 10 months. The state government is responsible for the death of the cows as animal husbandry minister Lakhan Singh Yadav failed to save the cows in his home district.”
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh CM and senior Congress leader Kamal Nath took to Twitter to say: “The news of the death of 17 cows at Dabra in Gwalior is very sad. Instructions for an impartial investigation into the incident have been given. Strict action would be taken against the guilty. We are committed to protecting cows. Such incidents cannot be tolerated.”
He has ordered an inquiry in the matter as the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that the incident showed “hollowness” of the state government’s claim on cow protection.
Continuing with its soft-Hindutva, Congress in its Madhya Pradesh manifesto has made several promises in that direction. Along with promising construction of Ram Path and a Narmada Parikrama route, Congress had also promised setting up of Gaushalas at all village panchayats. However, looking at the contemptuous attitude of Congress towards Hindu sentiments in the past, it would be interesting to see whether Kamal Nath government takes up some concrete steps to tackle this transgression.
