Cow slaughter: Cops scuttle march from Malerkotla

Sushil Goyal

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, April 19

Deploying about 600 cops in and around Malerkotla, the district police today scuttled a march by activists of the Shiv Sena (Bal Thackeray) and Gau Raksha Dal, Punjab. The ‘Save cow yatra’ was to be taken out from Malerkotla to Ram Nagar Chhanna village, near Sherpur, in protest against an incident of cow slaughter.

Parts of about 30 cows had been recovered by the police from a house at Ram Nagar Chhanna village on April 15. These parts had allegedly been buried there by the house owner after slaughtering the cattle.

When the police stopped the protesters near Mohrana village, they staged a dharna on the Malerkotla-Patiala main road under the leadership of Satish Kumar, national president of the Gau Raksha Dal, and Harish Singla, vice-president of the Shiv Sena (Bal Thackeray), Punjab. They raised slogans against the Punjab Government and lifted the dharna after about two hours. They also submitted a memorandum listing their demands to the Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC), Sangrur, Arvind Kumar.

Talking to The Tribune, Singla said the police had done injustice to ‘gau bhagats’ by foiling their march. He said their demands included the provision of life term for the killers of cows, issuance of arms licences to ‘gau bhagats’ to check the smuggling of cows, and dissolution of the Gau Sewa Commission, Punjab.

Pritpal Singh Thind, SSP, Sangrur, said police force had been deployed to maintain law and order. He added that the eight accused arrested in the cow slaughter case were produced today in the court, which remanded them in police custody for four days.