Just when we thought we wouldn’t be reporting any more stories along the lines of a goat being arrested for trespassing or a temple issuing sin-free certificates, Haryana police has proved us wrong yet again. We’re not sure if we should be surprised or not, but the state police has issued an 24 hour official helpline (8284030455) to report incidences of cow abuse, smuggling and slaughter, as stated in a report by The Indian Express. 

Officially called the ‘Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Act,’ this law can put an individual behind bars for up to ten years when suspected of cow slaughter, and is said to be a method of reinforcing the cow protection law issued by the state government in 2015. The helpline aims on making it easier for the police to take legal action against suspects by having in place an organized record of issued complaints.
It was also only a week ago in Faridabad that two men were forced by volunteers of the Gau Rakshak Dal to consume ‘panchgavya,’ a cow dung concoction of sorts, when they were suspected of having beef in their possession.We’re not sure how far this helpline will go, but we can only hope that with this in place, people will contact appropriate authorities and incidents of public violence taken up by extremists individuals and groups based on speculations and suspicions might at least reduce if nothing else.
Moreover, don’t be surprised if you find barricades across the streets in Haryana checking for cow smuggling, because according to Haryana DGP, K P Singh, that will be the next step ‘forward.’

Feature Image Courtesy: dawn.com   

Words: Karan Kaul