Nudged by police, residents of 90 Nuh villages ‘pledge’ to shun cow slaughterers

Police said they launched the public campaign against cow slaughter to control the law and order situation after cow vigilantes and cattle smugglers started attacking each other over the issue

A month after the police carried out “awareness drives” against the smuggling and slaughtering of cows, at least 90 villages in the Muslim majority Nuh region, held panchayats (village meetings) and passed resolutions “pledging” to boycott, socially and otherwise, all those who are allegedly involved in these illegal activities, the Nuh police said on Wednesday.

Nuh superintendent of police Varun Singla said they started appealing to villagers to cooperate with the police in stopping cow slaughter, and, a month on, their efforts started showing results. (HT Photo)

Police said they launched the public campaign against cow slaughter to control the law and order situation after cow vigilantes and cattle smugglers started attacking each other over the issue.

Nuh superintendent of police Varun Singla said they started appealing to villagers to cooperate with the police in stopping cow slaughter, and, a month on, their efforts started showing results.

The Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Act, 2015, prohibits cow slaughter, trafficking and consumption of beef in the state. In 2019, the government approved the addition of stricter provisions to the 2015 law, and authorised the police to seize vehicles involved in the transportation of cattle for slaughtering and also search any premises used for such purposes.

Police have booked 143 people in the past eight months for the smuggling and slaughtering of cows and have arrested another 344 for the offences.

He said the panchayats have also issued a warning to villagers that a fine ₹21,000 will be imposed on anyone caught smuggling or slaughtering cows. “In order to keep a tab on incidents of cow slaughter, we have also involved the local leaders, teachers and maulvis of these villages and blocks, to be our eyes and ears,” he said.

Ruzdar, sarpanch (village chief) of Umra gram panchayat, said, “Due to a few villagers, the entire village is defamed. There are police raids in the village frequently and that leaves a bad impact on our children. We want to bring about a positive change in society and we want the younger generation to stay away from criminal activities,” he said.

Haji Harun, another villager, said villagers of Umra, Danibas and Pratapbas have taken a collective decision to boycott families involved in cow smuggling and slaughtering. “We have also taken a decision to reward any villager who passes on information regarding such criminals with ₹21,000,” he said.

Ajay Kumar, deputy commissioner of Nuh, said their teams along with police had reached out to villages and are trying to spread awareness so that people know about the repercussions.

“Cow slaughter is banned in Haryana and we are reaching out to panchayats to spread awareness at their level. We have received resolutions from 91 villages so far and we are expecting more in the coming days,” he said.