The Madhya Pradesh authorities has declared 2024 as ‘Gauvansh Raksha Varsh’ (Bovine Safety 12 months), doubled down on efforts to confiscate autos utilized in cattle smuggling, tripled the finances for cow safety and directed senior officers in each district to clamp down on cow slaughter.
Within the six months since Mohan Yadav took over as Chief Minister, the BJP authorities he leads has made its evident that cow safety and a crackdown on cattle smuggling are amongst its prime priorities, forcing an already stretched authorities equipment – from the district administration to the police and the prosecution – to match as much as the duty.
Between January and June this 12 months, police have arrested 1,651 folks in 731 instances associated to unlawful cattle transport; the corresponding interval final 12 months noticed 212 instances and round 400 instances in the entire of 2023.
The state additionally demolished 21 houses of the accused, together with 11 on June 15 in Mandla district, the place beef was allegedly discovered within the fridges of the accused. Police have additionally seized 450 autos and rescued 7,524 cows throughout the state this 12 months.
Seoni, a tribal-dominated district in south Madhya Pradesh, is central to the federal government’s crackdown on cattle smuggling. It was right here that 63 butchered bovines had been discovered on June 19, prompting the CM to switch the native SP and collector in a single day.
Within the first half of the 12 months, 55 instances had been registered within the district, 99 folks arrested, and 1,301 cows rescued. In 2023, there have been 136 instances via the 12 months, 279 arrests, and 1,740 cattle rescued. Final 12 months, the Seoni police recovered 673 kg of beef and seized 93 autos. Balaghat, with 48 instances, Betul (40), Khargone (34), and Neemuch (23) are the opposite districts the place the administration has cracked down.
In Seoni, a deluge of instances
Seoni is a key transit level for cattle smugglers on NH44. Cattle are allegedly trafficked from north and east MP, together with Jhansi (UP) and Morena, and central areas similar to Vidisha, earlier than they head to slaughterhouses in Nagpur and southern states.
Seoni’s new SP Sunil Mehta spends little time in his workplace, specializing in discipline visits to strengthen efforts towards cow smuggling.
“A dealer can earn Rs 30,000 per cow from meat, pores and skin, and bones, AFTER spending about Rs 22,000 on transport and transit,” Mehta defined.
A senior CID official famous that pickup vehicles, costing Rs 20-50 lakh, carry cows price Rs 2-8 lakh. “Even a number of journeys cowl automobile prices. Our focus is now on seizing and auctioning these autos to disrupt the community.”
Only some weeks into her posting, Seoni Collector Sanskriti Jain has been reviewing instances lodged underneath the Nationwide Safety Act (NSA) towards cattle smugglers.
Jain plans to concentrate on preventive measures and intelligence gathering. “We are able to invoke the NSA to take care of regulation and order based mostly on SP studies. We may also confiscate autos underneath the amended MP Govansh Vadh Pratishedh Adhiniyam, 2004 (one of many two anti-cattle slaughter legal guidelines within the state). We’re figuring out people concerned in these actions early, reviewing their historical past, and taking preventive actions to make sure they don’t breach the peace,” she mentioned.
A senior official within the district emphasised the necessity for delicate policing, noting that beef consumption in these districts entails varied sub-castes and is “not only a Hindu-Muslim situation”.
“Delicate policing is essential to forestall communal incidents, given Seoni’s historical past of such violence,” the official mentioned.
In 2022, two tribal males had been lynched by a mob over suspicion of cow slaughter.
Calling for higher “inter-district police administration”, Further SP Gurudatt Sharma mentioned, “There are about 150 police stations alongside the path to Seoni.”
An evaluation of arrests from 2019 to 2024 highlights interstate dynamics. Seoni residents led with 209 arrests, adopted by Narsinghpur with 98, Nagpur (Maharashtra) with 64, and Uttar Pradesh with 20 arrests.
On the Seoni district court docket, state prosecution workplaces are buried underneath court docket information. As an investigator added 4 extra cow slaughter chargesheets to the pile, a senior prosecution department officer mentioned, “Extra cow instances? Don’t we’ve got anything to do?”
“Prosecutors at Judicial Justice of the Peace First Class courts deal with 8-10 cow slaughter instances every. They’re understaffed, resulting in a poor disposal price of 30% in cattle smuggling instances,” the officer added.
This 12 months, 399 instances had been heard on the Seoni district court docket. Of those, 19 resulted in acquittal, eight in conviction, and eight stay stalled with the primary accused lacking. Every cattle smuggling case takes about three years to conclude. To handle this, Bhopal’s state prosecution department plans so as to add 700 prosecutors statewide over the following few years.
Prosecutors report rising problem in cattle smuggling instances. Sometimes, solely automobile homeowners are arrested as drivers flee. “However then, the homeowners produce rental agreements, claiming no data of the smuggling. These paperwork are sometimes created post-arrest, however we lack assets to disprove them,” mentioned an Further District Prosecution Officer (ADPO). “Proving intent for slaughter is extraordinarily troublesome. The accused typically have legitimate sale paperwork and cattle ID tags. Police make arrests based mostly on informant ideas, concentrating on farmers from animal markets. These instances ceaselessly crumble in court docket.”
Hostile witnesses additionally result in acquittals.
“In a number of instances, the witnesses and the accused belong to the identical village. They flip hostile because the police are unable to guard them. Then there may be the case of public witnesses, who police rope in to witness seizures. In the course of the trial, it’s typically discovered that they had been by no means taken to the operation by the police and merely signed on clean papers,” mentioned the official.
Sometimes in cattle smuggling instances, the state police invoke sections of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960; and sections of the 2 anti-cow-smuggling legal guidelines. The utmost punishment for anybody convicted underneath these legal guidelines is a three-year imprisonment.
Senior officers from the districts of Seoni, Balaghat and Chhindwara say that to make sure that the decrease courts don’t hand out bail, police often invoke far more durable provisions, together with these regarding ‘selling enmity between completely different spiritual teams’. “I seized 35 kg of beef final month from a repeat offender. So we invoked provisions of selling enmity. However after a month, they ended up getting bail from the Excessive Court docket. In court docket we find yourself having hassle defending why the part was invoked,” mentioned an Inspector rank officer from Mandla.
Having to play catch-up
Following a directive from CM Yadav, senior officers of the state ready a radical evaluation of the routes of unlawful transportation of cows within the final 10 years, however, police say, they’re up towards people who find themselves at all times a step forward of them.
The police learnt that “the criminals concerned in unlawful transportation of cows attempt to take the cows away from the primary roads via the jungle and village grime roads.”
There are additionally “lookouts” who warn the alleged smugglers of the police. “Round 5 km forward of the truck transporting cows, they’ve somebody who drives a motorbike and acts as a lookout. The minute the lookout sees a police checkpoint, the transport automobile is alerted. We’re unable to do shock inspections and might solely verify 3-4 autos in a day earlier than the accused will get the tip-off,” mentioned an Assistant Sub Inspector in Seoni.
On the checkpoints, contemplating the employees deficit, police can at finest verify two trolleys randomly. “The district wants 200 extra personnel to successfully patrol the 170 km freeway stretch to Nagpur,” mentioned a senior officer.
Then there’s the query of what’s to be executed with the confiscated cattle. One other officer mentioned, “We don’t have sufficient gaushalas. There are services made for 500 cows in Seoni however these are filled with no less than 800 cows. At instances we home the cows at our police stations and feed them with our personal cash until we discover a appropriate gaushala.”
Seoni SP Mehta now plans to hold out “a public outreach programme to teach folks concerning the illegalities of cattle smuggling and steer them in the direction of various livelihoods.”
At Bori Kalan village, Deputy Sarpanch Zakir Khan is resting his ft earlier than he embarks on a 12-hour journey transporting rice in his truck. Just some years in the past, he had served time for being concerned in three cattle smuggling instances. “I don’t ferry cattle anymore…. It’s a Hindu-Muslim situation now and there’s a menace to my life,” he mentioned.