Bombay High Court notice to govt, police over gau rakshaks

The Bombay High Court on Monday issued notice to the Union Government, Maharashtra Government, Director General of Police and Commissioner of Police (Mumbai), directing them to file reply within two weeks on a Public Interest Litigation seeking framing of guidelines for the safety of citizens from cow protection vigilantes.

Advocate Asif Naqvi has filed the petition for activist Shadaab Patel, mainly relying on various news reports across the country where persons have been killed by these vigilantes. It was argued before the court that nothing is being done by the government to protect citizens and it is their duty to protect them.

On September 2, Bakri Eid is to be celebrated, and animals would be transported. If there are no proper guidelines then there could be an untoward incident in Mumbai, the petition states.

As per the petition the cow vigilante groups are taking law in their own hand and causing danger to the life of public, and are violating Rights enshrined under the Constitution of India, for carrying out business in a peaceful manner.

The PIL prays for calling of records from all police stations giving details about incidents of cow vigilantes, setting up of a call centre for people to make complaints of any kind of harassment. It also seeks direction to be issued to the police to provide gun license to legal animal transporters to protect themselves.