Take strict action against cow vigilantes: MHA to states

“Any person, or persons, doing so have to be dealt with strictly under the relevant laws, and brought to justice in the quickest possible fashion, for the strictest punishment,” it says.

“Section 39 of the CrPC requires that any person aware of the commission of certain offences or intention thereof, is required to give information to the nearest magistrate or police officer… Therefore, if an offence is committed, or about to be committed, such an offence… is required to be brought to the notice of the police authorities or magistrate for appropriate action… No person can, under any circumstances, take the law into their own hands,” it says.

The advisory, however, reminds the state governments that cow protection is the duty of the state, and that such an intention was even expressed in the Constitution.

Stating that the Directive Principles of State Policy provide for the preservation of cows, it quotes Article 48 of the Constitution of India: “The state shall endeavour to organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and shall, in particular, take steps for preserving and improving the breeds, and prohibiting the slaughter of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle.”

It also quotes entry 15 of the State list of the 7th Schedule which allocates the work of “preservation, protection and improvement of stock and prevention of animal diseases; veterinary training and practice” to the states. “In states where slaughter of cows is prohibited by law, such slaughtering would be in violation of law, and an offence. 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 wrongdoers,” says the advisory.

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Invoking Mahatma Gandhi, the advisory says: “Historically, cattle have a very special, respected and venerated status in Indian culture and history. In this regard, the father of the nation had stated that ‘cow protection to me is not mere protection of the cow. It means protection of that (which) lives, is helpless and weak in the world’.”