1113 cow smuggling cases in 3 years

: In the last three years, 1,113 cases of cow smuggling have been registered in Rajasthan and 2,198 smugglers were arrested, the state government said in a reply tabled in the assembly on Wednesday.

In the written reply, the government said there were 33 instances of firing between smugglers and police in the last three years. Seven policemen were injured while one smuggler was killed and three injured.

BJP MLA Hiralal Nagar in an unstarred question demanded to know how many cases of cow smuggling were registered, how many smugglers were arrested, how many cows rescued and what action has been taken.

He also wanted to know the number of cases where cow smugglers fired at the police and how many policemen or smugglers were killed and injured.

In a written reply, the home department said from 2015 to 2017, 16,428 cows were rescued and 1,051 vehicles impounded by the police in the state. The home department said of the 1,113 cases, challans were presented in 931 cases and FIRs filed in 122 cases while the investigation is on in another 60 cases.

On the steps taken to prevent cow smuggling, the government said police patrolling is carried out regularly and check-posts have been set up in different districts. The Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995 is in force in the state.

The process is on to make amendments in the act to make it more stringent, the government said.

Cow smuggling continues to be a menace in the state with Bharatpur and Alwar remaining the districts with the highest number of cases followed by Jaipur rural.

Smugglers from neighbouring Haryana smuggle cows from Bharatpur and Alwar to slaughterhouses.

The state government faced flak for violence by cow vigilantes against alleged cow smugglers. Pehlu Khan was lynched by a mob in Alwar in July 2017 for allegedly smuggling cows while another alleged cow smuggler was shot dead by Alwar police in December 2017.

JAIPUR