Meerut: A police station in Uttar Pradesh, northern India, recently received an unusual request from Muslim – hand over his cow to Hindu radicals.
“The cow is now too dangerous an animal for Muslims,” Abdul Gaffar Khan explained his unusual gesture to the Nachandi police station in Meerut town, some 80 km northeast of New Delhi.
Khan, a local councilor, was upset over frequent attacks on Muslims in the name of cow protection at various parts of the country.
Nechandi Police Station-in charge Sanjay Kumar told twocircles.net that two people who had bought cows were beaten by members of right-wing Hindu organizations. Even the people who had sold the cow to them were harassed by the same people, Kumar said.
Khan bemoans that Muslims are attacked everywhere in the country by “the so-called Gau Rakshaks (cow vigilantes) and the police and administration side with the attackers. I request the police to take the cow and hand it over to the Gau Rakshaks.”
He also said he felt “horrible” to part with his cow. “This cow came to me as a calf and I have reared it to a fully grown cow. It is very dear to me. But given the present circumstances, I believe that it is a dangerous animal for a Muslim to keep. I am scared and hence decided to hand over the cow.”
Azeez, one of the buyers, said they bought two cows from Mannu Singh and asked him to drop the cows at the dairy “since it was dangerous for us to transport them.”
However, members of the Bajrang Dal led by BJP councilor Rohit Rohilla attacked them and took them to a police station. “The police failed to take action despite the fact that we had a receipt of the payment of 34,000 rupees signed by both parties.”
The attackers snatched away the cows from the Muslims.