More than 140 cows pushed into ditch, rescue operation is going on

A case under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act at Garh police station against five named and more than a dozen unnamed villagers for pushing stray and other cows that were past their milking period into the Rewah Ghati

Administration in Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa district has been running an operation since October 1 to rescue at least 140 cows that were pushed into a ditch by some villagers who allegedly wanted to protect their crop, said officials aware of the development.

The matter received wide publicity on Friday after a video clip of the rescue operation went viral on social media (Virendra Singh Gosain/HT PHOTO)

A few residents of Lalgaon and Sarai Rachoi village reportedly pushed the cows one by one into Rewah Ghati (a local ditch) to deal with the problem of cows destroying standing crops in their fields .

Many cows received grave injuries and several others have died, alleged Sanjay Sharma, a resident of Lalgaon village who lodged the complaint on October 1. The matter received wide publicity on Friday after a video clip of the rescue operation went viral on social media.

The MP Police have registered a case under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act at Garh police station against five named and more than a dozen unnamed villagers for pushing stray and other cows that were past their milking period into the Rewah Ghati.

“They are absconding and we are trying to nab them. We are also identifying the other accused as villagers claim that this has been going on for the past few months to get rid of stray cows,” said Bhasin.

The district collector also formed a committee to probe the matter. “We are also trying to find out how such a huge number of cows reached the village,” district collector Iliyaraj T said. We are also shifting the stray and the rescued cows to nearby shelters, he added.

However, a villager claimed that the administration has been very late to react and urged that they be punished too. “Despite informing the administration about this brutal treatment with cows, nobody paid attention initially,” he said.

Madhya Pradesh is the first state to have a Cow Cabinet comprising six different departments for coordinated action for welfare and protection of cows.

The opposition Congress party has attacked the state government alleging the condition of cows was poor in MP.

“The cows are dying without food and shelter and the state government is indulging in drama of cow protection. The miserable condition of cows is exposing the fake concern of the state government,” said JP Dhanopia, spokesperson of the Congress party.