MHA says Rajasthan govt should take action on cow vigilantes

New Delhi: Citing an advisory issued a few months ago on cow vigilantism, the Centre on Friday said it expects the Rajasthan government to take action against those who had targeted officials of the Tamil Nadu government for transporting cows from Jaisalmer to their state recently.

The comments came days after about 50 cow vigilantes targeted officials of the Tamil Nadu government for transporting cows and pelted stones at a truck and blocked a national highway on suspicion of cattle smuggling in Rajasthan's Barmer district.

"We had sent an advisory a few months ago. We expect that the Rajasthan government will take action against all those who take law in their hands on the basis of that advisory," a home ministry spokesperson said.

In the advisory, the home ministry had asked all states not to tolerate anyone taking law into their hands in the name of cow protection and take prompt action against such offenders.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also denounced cow vigilantes and asked people to beware of such 'fake' protectors trying to divide society and the country and asked the states to severely punish them.

The advisory had said historically cattle have a very special, respected status in Indian culture and history and even Mahatma Gandhi had stated that "cow protection to me is not mere protection of cow, it means protection of that (which) lives, is helpless and weak in the world".

However, that does not entitle any individual or group of persons to take action on their own to prevent the alleged slaughter or punish the alleged wrong doers, it said.

The states are, therefore, enjoined upon, and expected to ensure that any person who takes law into his/ her own hands is dealt with promptly, and punished as per law.

There should be no tolerance at all for such persons and full majesty of law must come to bear on them, without exception, it said.

The advisory said no person can, under any circumstances, take the law into their hands and any person doing so has to be dealt with strictly under the relevant laws, and brought to justice in the quickest possible fashion, for the strictest punishment.