Gujarat HC questions cow vigilantes authority to conduct raids, seeks report on complaints filed by them

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court today expressed displeasure over the activities of said Gau Rakshaks (Cow Vigilantes) and questioned their authority to conduct raids against alleged beef traders.

Hearing an anticipatory bail plea of an accused in a beef seizure case of Kalupur area of the city, the court of Justice Paresh Upadhyay also sought a report on all the complaints filed by such cow vigilantes against alleged beef smugglers in various police stations of Gujarat.

The court also observed that how the said cow vigilantes in their complaints were using the words and phrases like ‘tip off’, ‘keeping a watch’ and ‘laid a trap’ which are normally used by police in its official complaints.

The court issued a notice to the state government on the anticipatory bail plea of Mohammed Ghulam Qureshi.

He is one of the five accused made in a case pertaining to the seizure of over 150 kg of beef from an auto-rickshaw in Kalupur area of the city few weeks ago. The raid was conducted by cow vigilantes and later police lodged the case. Apart from Qureshi other four accused have already been arrested.

DeshGujarat