The Vulnerability Of Police Informers Of Illegal Cow Slaughter And Beef Trade

A 23-year-old man from Dhule district of Maharashtra, was attacked by a group of butchers last week, after he tipped off the local police about their illegal cow slaughter activities. 

The local police initially tried to bury the incident, the victim, Purushottam Jaipal Powar, told Swarajya.

After this correspondent highlighted the matter on social media, the Dhule police sprung into action and not only filed a police case but also arrested the five identified accused.

Purushottam, who is known in his area by nickname Bunty, is 23. He lives in a village in Sindkhera taluka of Dhule and works as a farmer. 

The statement by Purushottam recorded in the FIR says that in front of his house, live five men, namely Habib Qureshi, Jabir Qureshi, Nihal Qureshi, Wahab Quresh and Babalya Qureshi.

The Patil family knows the men well, and they work as butchers. 

On 27 February around 8pm, he was on Betawad road getting petrol filled in his vehicle when Habib approached him. Saying that Purushottam had been putting a dent into his business by being an informer for the police, Habib hit him on his eye using a knife. 

Jabir and Nihal arrived at the spot soon after and started punching Purushottam, leading him to fall from the vehicle. After about 20 minutes, Babalya and Wahab too arrived at the spot. They abused him using sexual slurs directed at Purushottam’s mother and sister, and hit him further. 

After the five men left, Purushottam called up his friend, named Bhaiya Painter, who arrived and took him for medical treatment at a primary health centre. After first-aid, Purushottam was referred to the Dhule district hospital. 

This FIR was filed on 1 March, 2023, at Nardana police station of Dhule (FIR number 52). The five men were booked under IPC sections related to rioting and hurting religious sentiments.

Purushottam told a Swarajya correspondent who met him at the hospital, that a couple of days before the attack, he informed the local police that the five men who opposite his house were slaughtering cows in their house. 

It is pertinent to mention that the slaughter of cows or its progeny is prohibited in Maharashtra under the amended Maharashtra Animal Preservation Act, 1976. 

Purushottam said that the police raided the house based on his tip-off and recovered meat. It was in relation to this incident that the five men attacked him on 27 February, he said.

Purushottam said that he gave a complaint to the Nardana police the same day of his attack but the cops dismissed it, saying it was a small matter.

A cop even mocked him saying he had been bitten by a bug on the eye, he said. “Did the bug cause all the blood on my face and neck?”, Purushottam told Swarajya.

This correspondent posted a video made of him after the attack, on Twitter on 28 February, after which it became viral, promoting the official Twitter account of Dhule police to take note.

On 1 March, the Dhule police’s account replied that they had filed a case against the five accused and arrested them immediately.

Purushottam, who was still in the hospital on 2 March, told Swarajya that although the men were arrested, he felt a threat to his life from their community members. 

Purushottam’s two siblings are physically challenged, and the family depends on him, he said.

This case highlights yet again how vulnerable the police informers are and how emboldened the beef traders seem to have become.

Despite a ban on cow slaughter in several states and existence of special laws to deal with the menace, those who tip off the police about these illegal activities often pay the price with attacks or death. 

Perhaps the most distressing of such cases is the 2018 Auraiya case when three sadhus, who lived in a temple as caretakers, were killed and mutilated by a group of butchers for informing the police about their illegal cow slaughter activities. 

The five men accused of the murders, namely Mohammed Nadeem, Mohammed Shahzad, Mohammed Saleem and Mohammed Jabbar, entered the temple in dead of the night when the sadhus were sleeping, and chopped their tongues and necks. 

The slashing of tongue was a message to locals against objecting to cow slaughter, the killers told the police. 

The vulnerability of informers can be further gauged by the fact that even the police fear entering areas where such illegal trade is rampant.

As this correspondent reported, the Haryana Director General of Police (DGP) told the Haryana and Punjab high court through an affidavit in March 2019 that the police personnel in Mewat belt faced danger to their life and safety. 

The DGP’s affidavit was in response to an order by the court to state the reasons why conviction in cases of illegal cow slaughter was abysmally low in the Mewat belt, where such activities are rampant. 

The affidavit revealed a disturbing statistic that out of 792 FIRs filed in district Mewat (recently renamed to Nuh), only 13 cases went to court and even then, not even a single conviction had taken place since November 2015. 

After the court asked the Haryana DGP to decide on steps to improve the conviction rate for those illegally slaughtering cow, the top cop submitted another affidavit saying the police would take an informer for raids against cow smuggling so the informers can act as independent witnesses during trial. 

However, given the serious threat to life that the informers face, should they not be given police protection?

(Mayur Bhosale contributed to the reporting)