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Nuh police submit strategy in high court to curb cow smuggling, slaughtering
The submission was made during a hearing on a bail plea by an accused who had 38 cases of cow smuggling and cow slaughter registered against him last week
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The Nuh police has told the Punjab and Haryana high court that it is plugging gaps in the investigation into cases of cow smuggling and slaughtering to prevent large scale acquittals in such cases, and also submitted a strategy involving local residents and drones to prevent cow smuggling and slaughter in the district.
In September last year, Nuh police carried out “awareness drives” in villages against the smuggling and slaughtering of cows, and also held panchayats (village meetings) wherein residents passed resolutions and “pledged” to boycott, socially and otherwise, all those involved in these illegal activities.
Police said they launched the public campaign against cow slaughter to control the law and order situation after cow vigilantes and smugglers started attacking each other over the issue
The submission was made during the hearing last week on a bail plea of a man who has 38 cases of cow smuggling and slaughtering against him.
In its 13-page submission to the court, the police said they are taking an innovative approach to curb the menace of cow smuggling and slaughtering.
Varun Singla, superintendent of police, Nuh, said they have analysed around 1,627 cases registered under Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gau Samvardhan Act 2015 in the past five years and found out that the incidence of cow smuggling was comparatively higher in 158 villages of Nuh district.
“We persuaded the members of these villages and resolutions were passed in all 158 villages against cow slaughtering and a pledge was taken to socially boycott those involved in these cases,” he said.
Singla said after that, weekly cases reduced from four a week to two.In the meanwhile, police also started using drone surveillance to prevent cow smuggling and slaughtering.
Nuh police said the high court on January 1 had directed them to submit suggestions on ways to control the recurrence of cow-related offences. The court also directed police to examine why there were large-scale acquittals in such cases.
The Nuh police were given six weeks to file the necessary affidavit.
Singla said they directed Satish Vats, deputy superintendent of police (Firozepur Zhirka), to examine the reasons for the large-scale acquittals in such cases and to analyse 146 cases of acquittals and submit a report. “ Our analysis revealed that several suspects were acquitted for want of independent witnesses at the time of arrest or recovery. The other reason was that no photography of the scene of crime was carried out by the investigating officer and, in some cases, name of a suspect was mentioned only in the disclosure statement of the arrested accused and had zero corroborative evidence,” he said.
Police said it could also not be clearly proved that the sole intent for transportation of the cattle/cows was slaughter. The suspects did not disclose the name of butcher who slaughtered the cows, and without that a vital link in the crime could not be established.
Singla said after analysing the acquittal/bail orders, the department has arranged regular training sessions for all investigating officers to give them pointers on better investigation into cow smuggling and slaughtering cases. “We have given a checklist of points to keep in mind while conducting an investigation of such cases to all deputy superintendents of police, station house officers, in-charge of police posts, crime units, etc,” he said.
Also, police teams were asked to identify the habitual offenders. At least 11 habitual offenders were identified and history sheets were opened in their names. This ensured continued surveillance of their activities besides cancellation of bails granted to them, police said.
Justice Mahavir Singh Sandhu of the Punjab and Haryana high court issued a letter praising the superintendent of police, Nuh, for the efforts to stop cow smuggling and slaughter.
But police said smugglers are still active in Gurugram, Pataudi and Farrukhnagar. On April 15, three suspects fled leaving their vehicle behind on the elevated road from Subhash Chowk to Badshahpur.
Sandeep Manesar, a member of Bajrang Dal, said, “The gangs of Nuh are still active at night. More than 65 cows and bulls were recovered from three vehicles last week. We tried to intercept their car and they fled. They were also carrying beef. Cases were registered at Badshahpur and Farrukhnagar police station.”
