Hundreds of cases, but only one conviction since 2011 under Gujarat cow law

SINCE OCTOBER 2011, when the government of then Chief Minister Narendra Modi amended the Gujarat Animal Preservation Act, 1954, by inserting clauses banning cow slaughter and the sale and transportation of cow meat, there has been onlyoneconvictionundertheact.

On May 8, 2016, Rafik Khalifa (35), a resident of Gandevi taluka in Navsari district, was sentenced to three years’ rigorous imprisonment by a local court under various sections of the Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, 2011, for possessing beef. This, according to public prosecutor M N Vasava, was the first conviction under the law amended in 2011.

On Friday, the Gujarat assembly amended the law again to make it more stringent. Cow slaughter now carries an enhanced punishment ranging from a minimum 10 years in prison to a maximum for life. The punishment for illegally transporting cow, beef or beef products is seven years.

Khalifa was caught by two members of cow vigilante groups on October 8, 2014 from Gandevi taluka, while he was allegedly on his way to sell the beef to customers in villages. Hundreds of cases have been registered across Gujarat for alleged violations; there has also been widespread abuse of the law. The most egregious case was in Mota Samdhiyala village of Una taluka in Gir-somnath district on July 11, 2016 — four Dalit youths were flogged by “gau rakshaks” on suspicion of cow slaughter; investigation revealed later that the cow had been killed by a lioness, and the local police had fudged the record to book the Dalits for cow slaughter.

In September last year, cow vigilantes chased a car allegedly carrying two calves in Ahmedabad and thrashed the driver, Mohammed Ayub,