Citing physical torture and harassment by a district collector and other officials on a cow protection activist, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi has urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to personally intervene in the matter. In a strongly worded letter to Naveen, Gandhi alleged that animal welfare activist Tirtha Kumar Sahu in Rayagada district was arrested and tortured by the Rayagada district collector, an assistant collector and a deputy superintendent of police as he was protesting illegal smuggling of cows to West Bengal, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. In her lettter to Naveen, Gandhi said Odisha is the state where the largest number of cattle are being illegally smuggled out to West Bengal, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh every month. Many NGOs who have attempted to stop the smuggling have been arrested by police. [related-post] Sahu, 22, a volunteer of Gau Gyan Foundation has been working for rehabilitation of cattle for last three years. Last year, he filed over 180 cases in Odisha High Court against the civil and police administration. Bharat Raksha Manch, a local NGO had written to Gandhi protesting illegal detention, torture of Tirtha Kumar Sahu. Gandhi alleged that last week, Sahu went to the grievance cell of Rayagada district collector Jagannath Mohanty to protest the smuggling of thousands of cattle during the previous fortnight. "The Assistant collector Ishaq Madina tore up his shirt while the collector Mohanty beat him up. Dy SP Santanu Mohanty kicked him in the chest and groins. Sahu was kept in police lock-up unlawfully for 27 hours and booked in a slew of cases under the IPC including section 307. All the actions of the civil and police administration so far indicate vindictiveness and an attempt to kill Sahu," alleged Gandhi. She further alleged that the assistant collector visited Rayagada police station and threatened to "ruin the life" of Sahu while spitting on him. "On April 7 morning, Sahu was attacked by goons inside the jail premises and was hit with iron rods. He had to be hospitalised. Even after this murderous attack, a false case was filed against Sahu," she said. Gandhi said she had a telephonic conversation with the district collector after the attack, but the officer told her that he intended to teach Sahu a lesson for his "rudeness". "The collector said it was probably Sahu's fault and he should have been killed. He said he is not even going to have an inquiry into the matter. He is in need of urgent and proper medical treatment which has been denied to him so far," alleged Gandhi. "The district collector seems to have a personal problem with Sahu as he kept complaining of rudeness. One of the problems with bureaucrats in office is that they presume they are divine and anyone who speaks to them normally is rude and should be jailed. There is no doubt in my mind that the Rayagada officials are involved with the cattle mafia as smuggling of lakhs of animals is extremely lucrative," she said. Alleging that Rayagada district was a hub of illegal cattle smuggling, Gandhi alleged that Odisha police are hostile to all volunteers. "Sahu has been threatened by many senior officials, framed in false cases, jailed and tortured inside jail. This year in January, he was tortured in Jeypore jail of Koraput district," she said, seeking Naveen's personal intervention.
