Maharashtra Assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar asks cops to protect ‘cow vigilantes’

Affan Abdul Majid Ansari was lynched by cow vigilantes in Nashik on Saturday

Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Tuesday said he has asked the state police to maintain strict vigil and seal borders to ensure there is no transportation of cattle from neighbouring states and also no attack on 'gau rakshaks' (cow vigilantes). The speaker also said he has asked the police to set up squads to visit and patrol sensitive areas.

Narwekar said he had a meeting with the additional director general of police (law and order) and the Nanded superintendent of police over the "fear" among institutions and NGOs that there could be "mass gau-vansh hatya" (bovine killing) during the upcoming period of Bakr-Eid. "So, precautionary measures should be taken also with regards to the violence that had erupted in Nanded and other places," he said.

"We have asked the police to maintain strict vigilance and set up squads to visit and patrol sensitive areas… seal the borders to not allow any flow of cattle between states and also to ensure there is no attack on these gau-rakshaks," he said. Narwekar said the state is doing its bit to control everything and this is not happening for the first time. "It has been happening and we want to ensure this time it is controlled totally. It was a pre-emptive, precautionary meeting that was taken," he said.

On June 24, Nasir Hussain Gulam Hussain Qureshi and Affan Abdul Majid Ansari were returning from Nashik to Mumbai in a car when they were stopped by a group of 10-15 people on suspicion of carrying cow meat. The 'cow vigilantes' assaulted the duo, causing Affan's death. This was the second incident in Nashik in two weeks after three men transporting cattle in a tempo were attacked. The body of one of them, identified as Lukman Ansari, was later recovered from a gorge at Ghatandevi in Igatpuri.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever