Chandigarh: Haryana would soon enact a new law to check cow slaughter in the State, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced. Khattar, while addressing a meeting in Yamunanagar, said his government would present a Bill to check cow slaughter in the next session of Haryana Assembly. The issue of cow slaughter is closely linked to cattle theft in many parts of Haryana and often leads to tensions between communities. Be it the areas bordering Uttar Pradesh or parts of southern Haryana, the issue of cattle theft has often been flagged by the residents as a major crime that results in social strife.
In early November this year, three youth were arrested by the Delhi police for their alleged involvement in cases of theft of cattle in Delhi and Haryana. Nizam, Zuber and Md Ajeem were arrested by the police and a country-made pistol and two live cartridges were recovered from them.
Often the stolen cattle are transported as far off as Maharashtra for sale. Recently in September, the Nashik police arrested five men from Haryana while they were carrying stolen bulls in a tempo.
Police sources said most of these gangs of cattle thieves are from Mewat in southern Haryana. They move around in modified tempos and steal cattle either for sale or cow slaughter. These men are often armed. Incidentally, even in the sensational Dhaula Kuan gang rape case of Delhi it was alleged by the police that the victim was assaulted by a gang of cattle thieves who had entered the Capital from Mewat with the intention of stealing cattle.
Cattle thieves also seldom shy from firing if their attempts are resisted. In August last year, a 22-year-old guard was shot dead when he along with two other residents tried to stop a group of men from stealing cattle in Sihi village in Ballabhgarh. The incident had led to a lot of tension in the area.
In a similar incident in Pul Prahladpur in South East Delhi early this year, a youth was shot dead by a gang of cattle thieves. In that connection the police later arrested Mohammad Kamil of Palwal district of Haryana following intensive searches in Palwal, Nuh, Mewat and Faridabad areas of the southern part of the State.
