Thinking that rearing a cow one day would become pretext for cow vigilantes to attack him and his family, Abdul Gaffar Khan from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, did a best thing for his safety. He surrendered the cow to the local police.
According to TwoCircles.net, Khan said he felt itnense pain while surrendering the cow to the police as he had reared to this level from a calf.
“It is very dear to me, but given the present circumstances where Muslims are attacked on such a consistent basis, I believe that it is a dangerous animal for a Muslim to keep. I am scared and hence decided to hand over the cow,” Khan said.
Nechandi Police Station-in charge Sanjay Kumar confirmed the depositing of the cow at the police station. The official said Khan decided to part with the cow as two people who had bought cows were harassed and beaten by members of right-wing Hindu organisations some time back.
According to the report, even the people who sold the cow were harassed by the same group of people.
Fearing same fate Khan, who is the local councillor, decided to deposit the cow at the police station.
According to Azeez, one of the buyers, “we bought two cows from Mannu Singh and asked him to drop the cows at the dairy since it was dangerous for us to transport them. However, members of the Bajrang Dal attacked us regardless and we were taken to the local police station. The attackers were led by BJP councillor Rohit Rohilla. The police failed to take action despite the fact that we had a receipt of the payment of Rs 34,000 signed by both parties. One of the cows was eight months pregnant while the other was five months pregnant. Both the cows were confiscated from us.”
It was this incident that led to Khan submitting his cow to the police station as a form of protest.
Khan further added, “The cow is now too dangerous an animal for Muslims….everywhere in the country, Muslims are attacked by so-called Gau Rakshaks and the police and administration side with the attackers. I request the police to take the cow and hand it over to the Gau Rakshaks.”
(This story was first published in Twocircles.net)