One cow vigilante held for beating up farmer duo

Gautam Buddh Nagar police on Saturday arrested one of the four cow vigilantes, who alleged thrashed two farmers in Greater Noida after suspecting the farmers of being cow slaughterers.

The two farmers, one of whom was a senior citizen, were returning home with a cow and a calf which was gifted to them by their Muslim friend.

The arrested accsused has been identified as Gaurav, a resident of village Bundelkhand in Jewa, Greater Noida. A case has been registered against four people under sections 147, 148, 323, 307, 504 and 506 IPC in Jewar police station.

As per the complaint, "Bhoop Singh (50) and his nephew Jaiveer Singh (30), who used to sell vegetables in Greater Noida, were accosted in a Jewar village by a group of men on Friday, who accused them of being cattle smugglers and rained punches and kicks on them. The cow had been gifted to them by a Muslim man, for he had lot animals to take care of.

Bhoop Singh said: "There were four people in total. They didn't even ask us if we were taking the cow for slaughter and started roughing us up. We received the six-year-old cow and the calf as a gift from a Muslim friend, Asghar, in Mehndipur. Asgar already had two cows and the extra milk yield would be useful".

According to police officials, the truth became apparent when they questioned the victims and verified their version with people from their village and the village from where they were returning. The two suffered injuries on their nose, chest and shoulders and were discharged from hospital after getting treatment.

"We are taking the issue seriously and our investigation is on. Soon we will nab all those involved in the incident," said Ajay Kumar Sharma, Station House Officer, Jewar police station.

Despite widespread condemnation of cow-related vigilante activities, incidents of people being thrashed by such vigilantes are on the rise and have increased exponentially in the past few months.