How Gujarat’s new animals Act made Rasulpura neighbours pay the price of a wedding feast

Satar, who belongs to a community of cow-herders, with his new calf. (Express Photo)

Satar, who has studied till Class 3 and drives a cash delivery van for a living, says he immediately suspected his two neighbours, living in the poorer section of Rasulpura, who had weddings at home the next day. Satar’s son Faruk claims that Imran, whose brother was getting married, could account for the mutton he was going to serve, but Salim Makrani had no clear answer on how he had sourced the meat for the akani (a biryani-like preparation) at his daughter’s wedding.

Satar went to police, and even as the wedding was on, they took Salim, 42, to jail. On July 6, a Sessions Court at Dhoraji convicted Salim of theft and slaughter of the calf and sentenced him to 10 years and Rs 1 lakh fine.

Salim’s mother Jubedabai, who is in her 80s and fast losing her eyesight, breaks down at a mention of the case. “We are not butchers,” she says fiercely. Jubedabai also adds it was physically impossible for Salim to slaughter a cow. “He once cut his hand opening a bottle. He required seven stitches and never regained full strength in his fingers.”

Salim’s father Umar alias Kadar, who ails from a lung ailment, has hardly stirred from his bed since the order came. According to Kadar, Salim had purchased the mutton for the akani from one Yusuf Khatki alias Yusuf Razak Pinjara, a trader in the meat market at Baharpara in Dhoraji. While Sub-Inspector Jaysukh Mithara, who investigated the case, doubts this, one of the local meat traders told The Sunday Express, “It is possible this Yusuf was from Rasulpara and involved in illegal slaughter. Such incidents give a bad name to those like us doing legal business.”

Salim is Jubedabai and Kadar’s only son among eight children. Kadar used to work as a driver, while Salim took up odd jobs, supplementing his income from a paan shop.

Apart from Salim, his parents, wife and four daughters, the four-member family of his nephew shares their two-room house. Salim’s eldest daughter Sanabanu is 20, youngest Razia 6. It was Sanabanu who was getting married on January 30.

Since Salim’s arrest, the other three have stopped attending school, while Sofia, 15, has been sent to an aunt’s place. “There are simply too many mouths here to feed,” Shehnaz says, adding that she is managing with some rice and wheat received as alms during Ramzan. A neighbour lent Rs 2,000 to keep the paan shop running.

Living metres away, Satar Koliya, 63, talks about why that calf was special to him. Going into an enclosure in the backyard of his house, with 16 goats and their kids, he nuzzles the latest calf delivered by his cow Dhavali. While the Koliyas are traditional cow herders, Satar’s only son Faruk, who studied till Class 10, works as a peon at a bank. His eyes welling up, Satar says the calf that was killed, Ratudi, was Dhavali’s first.

Faruk says that after Ratudi went missing and Salim could not give a satisfactory reply about the meat he had served, “I asked him to tell the truth. But he said who was I to question him. When I said we would go to police, he said we were free to do what we wanted.”

Satar says when police arrived on January 30 afternoon, Salim came running to him. “He confessed that unaware that the calf belonged to us, he had slaughtered it since he did not have money to purchase mutton for the wedding feast. He begged me to forgive him. But I asked him why he hadn’t admitted to this earlier. I told him I could have helped him with money too had he asked. But now that a case had been filed, only police and Allah could save him,” says Satar.

While a veterinary officer identified the remains that had been found as that of a cow progeny, confirmed also by forensic tests, it was not conclusively established that the calf that had been killed was Satar’s. A laboratory examination could not identify the meat in the akani recovered from Salim’s house, as it was cooked. Police claimed to have also recovered from near Salim’s home a knife allegedly used to slaughter the calf.

While the defence argued in court that the akani had not been established as made of beef, the court ruled that it did not undermine the prosecution’s case as the calf had been slaughtered and the suspicion was on Salim. “Additionally… the accused is not challenging that a ceremony had been organised at his home… and that witnesses are stating that samples of biryani had been collected… In such a scenario, it is incumbent upon the accused to prove that the meat found in (the) biryani was not obtained by slaughtering the said calf,” Sessions Judge Hemantkumar Dave said in his judgment.

Additional Public Prosecutor Kartikey Parekh, who represented Satar, says, “Salim had made extra-judicial confession and the court could have convicted him on that alone. There was also corroborative evidence. He remained silent too. In such circumstances, the burden of proof shifted to him.” The defence did not examine any witness.

Kadar says that after Salim was arrested, he pleaded with Satar to forgive his son. “But all that he said was that he would give my son relief during court proceedings.”

The Koliyas say they are satisfied with the verdict. “Now, I shall not be an accused in the court of maalik (Allah). I shall not be guilty of not doing anything for my calf,” says Satar.

But, there is also regret. Satar says things would not have taken such a turn had Salim admitted to his act. “Nothing about this episode makes me particularly happy. I know they are in trouble now. But I wish he had not been rude,” says Satar.

Satar’s wife Jubeda, who is angrier about Salim’s “sin”, too admits to “mixed feelings”. “I can’t blindfold myself to the fact that theirs is a home of daughters,” she says.

So, in March, when Faruk got married, two months after Salim’s arrest, Satar sent an invite to Salim’s family. “We had never had any quarrels with them. In fact, my father had helped Kadar find work as a cleaner and helped him learn driving… I told them I shall also pack a tiffin for Salim (in jail),” says Satar, his voice dropping.

But the Makranis stayed away.