Protection of cows not at the cost of human lives: Athawale

New Delhi, July 30

Condemning the Una incident where a Dalit family was flogged allegedly by gau rakshaks for skinning a cow carcass, newly inducted Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale on Saturday said the protection of cows should not be at the expense of human lives.

Speaking to ANI, Athawale said, “My statement is not for the government, but for those who are for ‘gau raksha’. I want to urge them that as per Hinduism there is a holy place of cow and we respect that, but protection of cows should not be at the expense of human lives. If someone kills a cow neglecting the laws, it should be opposed, but no human being should be killed.”

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“‘Gau raksha’ should be done but ‘manav raksha’ is also important. There should not be any kind of struggle between Dalits and Hindus as well as between Muslims and Hindus. We all should try to strengthen society. We should see that incidents like that of Una are not repeated,” he added.

A policeman was killed in mob violence and a Dalit committed suicide on July 19 as protests against the thrashing of four youths in Una town snowballed across Saurashtra region of Gujarat.

The Dalit was among the five people from the community who tried to take their lives in separate incidents in Gujarat. ANI