Mumbai: Cow, calves being illegally transported for slaughter rescued

MUMBAI: A cow and two calves which were being illegally transported from Aarey Colony to Nagpada for the purpose of slaughter early on Sunday morning were rescued by animal activists with the assistance of Mumbai police. The rescued animals have been sent to the Malad cattle pound.

An FIR has also been registered against the tempo driver and cleaner at Kherwadi police station by the animal rights NGO Karuna Parivar.

"I had received a specific information early on Sunday that a few cattle were being illegally taken in a tempo from Aarey Colony to Nagpada for slaughtering them. I immediately called up the Mumbai police control room and shared all these details, along with the description of the tempo. We finally succeeded in intercepting the tempo at Bandra (east) with the help of police personnel who had reached the spot on time. The accused tempo driver, Nadeem Kureshi, and cleaner, Mohammed Rafiq Kureshi, were arrested by Kherwadi police after my FIR was lodged," said activist Bhavin Gathani of Karuna Parivar group.

Police officials informed that the duo were booked under the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, 1995, and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. Both the accused men have been given police custody for two days, that is till Tuesday.

"There is a lot of animal cruelty involved in this racket of illegal transportation of cattle. Often, many cows, bullocks and buffalos are tightly tied up inside vehicles and taken by road to long journeys that may last over 10 hours for finally killing them. Often, some of the animals die of suffocation in such cramped conditions," added Gathani.