Skip to main content

Adopt stray cattle: Rajasthan govt "recipe" for compensating those lynched in the name of cow protection

A cow protection police station in Alwar
By A Representative
How are the BJP rulers in Rajasthan seeking to compensate the families of those killed by the so-called gau rakshaks or cow vigilantes? According the recipe provided by a senior state official, who admitted that none of those lynched in the name of cow protection have been offered cash compensation, pointing out, their family members would be persuaded to take up "Adopt a Cow" policy of the Rajasthan government.
Revealing this, a new report, "Divide & Rule: In the Name of Cow", based on a fact-finding team's visit to take an on-the-spot view of things in Rajasthan, qualified as the "epicentre of lynching incidents", quotes the disctict collector, Alwar, to say that the policy seeks to "protect stray and abandoned cows", and in the district, so far, 71 cows have been adopted.
Released at the land rights movement, Bhumi Adhikaar Andolan (BAA), meet in Delhi on March 21, the report says, the policy was floated after it was found that "recent interventions of the government, police and cow vigilantes preventing cattle trade has caused an increase in stray cattle."
It adds, "The restrictions on the sale of cattle and the compulsive closure of slaughter houses have forced the dairy farmers to release these animals to fend for themselves. The released cattle often end up in destroying crops and hence have turned into a situation in which the administration has had to find benefactors to adopt the stray animals. Thus, the so-called cow protectors have caused the peril of the animal and lives of people alike."
Prepared by a team of lawyers and civil society activists led by PV Surendranath, senior advocate, Supreme Court, those who formed part of the fact-finding mission included CPI-M MPs KK Ragesh and Badrudduzza Khan, All-India Kisan Sabha leaders Vijoo Krishan and Dr Sanjay Madhav, and senior activists from across India.
Another cow protection police station in Rajasthan
The report notes, in Rajasthan, in all there are a dozen "cow protection" police stations, all of them in Alwar and Bharatpur districts, "allegedly to control cow smuggling”, and it here that some of the worst incidents of "mob violence under the ‘cow protection’ guise has taken place."
According to the report, the Rajasthan government "solution" has come against the backdrop of sharp impoverishment of the families lynched in the state. Typical is the case of Umar Khan, belonging to Ghatmeeka village in Bharatpur district, was killed by cow vigilantes and his body was found on the railway track at Ramgarh in Alwar District on November, 10, 2017.
"He is survived by nine children, and the youngest among them was born premature two days after his death and out of shock. The family now lives in utter poverty and earns a little by selling milk and through occasional daily wages from rural work. Umar’s mother, wife and children are in an inconsolable state with no support or compensation coming from the BJP led state government", the report states.
The report believes, the cases of lynching, in all 78, involving 293 individuals, resulting in the  death of 29, are the direct result of the BJP rulers seeking to undermine the right to life and personal liberty. It underlines, "One’s right to eat food of one’s choice has no meaning, unless that food is reasonably available to purchase. Hence, freedom to trade cattle, slaughter it and to eat that meat /beef" has to be a "natural corollary of the privacy rights".
Calling cow protection laws -- such as those in Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand, where punishment for cow slaughtering is from 10 years' rigorous imprisonment to life term -- "barbarous" thr report says, "The skewed government policy and its reckless implementation has led to a situation wherein cattle owners are left with no other option but to abandon their unproductive cattle."
Pointing out that cattle owning is not religion-specific but region-specific, the report says, "In Kerala, 7% Hindu and 5% Muslim households have cattle; in Uttar Pradesh, 52% of Hindu and 21% of Muslim households own cattle; and in Kashmir, the percentage of households having cattle is 37 and 57 respectively. between Hindus and Muslims."
"But", regrets the report, "The curious fact that it is Muslim community that is primarily dependent on meat industry for food and employment reveals the driving force for BJP governments to implement cow protection laws in a communally charged manner."

Comments

Unknown said…
Cow is goddess in Hinduism. So, no cow-slaughter please. Due to cow slaughter, not a single village has become cow-less village in India. Every village has got huge cow and no sign of creation of zero-cow village anywhere. On the contrary, due to female foeticide in INDIA, numbers of villages are created without any girl-child. In Gujarat, Patel community is suffering from the problem of bride shortage. So, respected Hindu gentry should think of banning female foeticide more seriously than banning cow-slaughter. Otherwise, devil is waiting in h e l l for female-less communities.

TRENDING

10,000 students deprived of classes as Ahmedabad school remains shut: MCC writes to Gujarat CM

By A Representative   The Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) has written to Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, urging him to immediately reopen the Seventh Day Adventist School in Maninagar, Ahmedabad, where classes have been suspended for nearly two weeks. The MCC claims that the suspension, following a violent incident, violates the constitutional right to education of thousands of children.

Gujarat minority rights group seeks suspension of Botad police officials for brutal assault on minor

By A Representative   A human rights group, the Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) Gujarat,  has written to the Director General of Police (DGP), Gandhinagar, demanding the immediate suspension and criminal action against police personnel of Botad police station for allegedly brutally assaulting a minor boy from the Muslim community.

On Teachers’ Day, remembering Mother Teresa as the teacher of compassion

By Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ   It is Teachers’ Day once again! Significantly, the day also marks the Feast of St. Teresa of Calcutta (still lovingly called Mother Teresa). In 2012, the United Nations, as a fitting tribute to her, declared this day the International Day of Charity. A day pregnant with meaning—one that we must celebrate as meaningfully as possible.

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor*  This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Targeted eviction of Bengali-speaking Muslims across Assam districts alleged

By A Representative   A delegation led by prominent academic and civil rights leader Sandeep Pandey  visited three districts in Assam—Goalpara, Dhubri, and Lakhimpur—between 2 and 4 September 2025 to meet families affected by recent demolitions and evictions. The delegation reported widespread displacement of Bengali-speaking Muslim communities, many of whom possess valid citizenship documents including Aadhaar, voter ID, ration cards, PAN cards, and NRC certification. 

Gandhiji quoted as saying his anti-untouchability view has little space for inter-dining with "lower" castes

By A Representative A senior activist close to Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar has defended top Booker prize winning novelist Arundhati Roy’s controversial utterance on Gandhiji that “his doctrine of nonviolence was based on an acceptance of the most brutal social hierarchy the world has ever known, the caste system.” Surprised at the police seeking video footage and transcript of Roy’s Mahatma Ayyankali memorial lecture at the Kerala University on July 17, Nandini K Oza in a recent blog quotes from available sources to “prove” that Gandhiji indeed believed in “removal of untouchability within the caste system.”

'Govts must walk the talk on gender equality, right to health, human rights to deliver SDGs by 2030'

By A Representative  With just 64 months left to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), global health and rights advocates have called upon governments to honour their commitments on gender equality and the human right to health. Speaking ahead of the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), experts warned that rising anti-rights and anti-gender pushes are threatening hard-won progress on SDG-3 (health and wellbeing) and SDG-5 (gender equality).

Is U.S. fast losing its financial and technological edge under Trump’s second tenure?

By Dr. Manoj Kumar Mishra*  The United States, along with its Western European allies, once promoted globalization as a democratic force that would deliver shared prosperity and balanced growth. That promise has unraveled. Globalization, instead of building an even world, has produced one defined by inequality, asymmetry of power, and new vulnerabilities. For decades, Washington successfully turned this system to its advantage. Today, however, under Trump’s second administration, America is attempting to exploit the weaknesses of others without acknowledging how exposed it has become itself.

What mainstream economists won’t tell you about Chinese modernisation

By Shiran Illanperuma  China’s modernisation has been one of the most remarkable processes of the 21st century and one that has sparked endless academic debate. Meng Jie (孟捷), a distinguished professor from the School of Marxism at Fudan University in Shanghai, has spent the better part of his career unpacking this process to better understand what has taken place.