Cattle ‘traders’ thrashed in Vaishali

Patna: A case has been lodged against a Bajrang Dal member and 20 others after three men allegedly transporting cattle for slaughter were beaten up at Hajipur in Vaishali district, around 20km north of Patna, on Tuesday.

Police said that a group of Bajrang Dal members and supporters intercepted a commercial vehicle carrying four bulls near Hasanganj under the jurisdiction of Hajipur Town police station around 4pm on Tuesday.

The mob dragged out the three men in the vehicle and assaulted them in full public view, allegedly after the trio dithered in answering the mob’s questions.

Hajipur Town police station house officer (SHO) Om Prakash said that the three cattle transporters, identified as Ranjeet Nut, Sanjay Nut and Vishwajeet Paswan, were rescued by the police from the mob and booked under relevant sections of the Animal Cruelty Act, 1960.

They three were later admitted to Hajipur sadar hospital for treatment.

The Hajipur Town police also lodged a case against one named activist of the Bajrang Dal, and 20 others.

Hajipur Town SHO Om said that the main accused in the case, identified as Aryan Singh, is absconding after the incident.

The SHO said: “Aryan is an office-bearer of the district unit of the Bajrang Dal. Efforts are on to nab him and his supporters.”

He confirmed that two separate FIRs have been lodged. While the first FIR is related to assault on the cattle transporters, the second FIR deals with illegal transportation of cattle.

The police have seized four bulls and the vehicle in which they were being allegedly transported to a slaughter house, the SHO added.

Bajrang Dal activists on Wednesday protested the case lodged against Aryan and his supporters.

A video showing the unruly mob thrashing the cattle transporters also went viral on social networking sites on Wednesday.

The state police headquarters took cognisance of the incident and directed the Vaishali superintendent of police to take precautionary measures to avert any untoward incident.

While two of the cattle transporters – Ranjeet and Sanjay- were stated to be residents of Dighwara in Saran district, Vishwajeet is a native of Vaishali district.

Violence over transporting of cattle is a relatively new phenomeon in the state.

The first case involving self-declared cow vigilantes or gau rakhsaks in Bihar in recent memory happened in August last year, when suspected Bajrang Dal supporters beat up three persons at Shahpur in Bhojpur district on suspicion of carrying beef to Calcutta.

That incident had happened within a week after chief minister Nitish Kumar walked out of the Grand Alliance with the Congress and the RJD and tied up with the BJP afresh.

Courtesy: The Telegraph