'Cracker dough' blows up cow's jaw in Himachal Pradesh; one held

DHARAMSHALA/MANALI: Amid national outrage over the killing of a pregnant elephant in Kerala, a video of a pregnant cow in Himachal Pradesh's Bilaspur whose jaw was blown off after it was allegedly fed firecrackers wrapped in wheat flour dough has gone viral. One person was arrested in the case on Saturday.
A video shot by the owner, Gurdial Singh, surfaced on Saturday showing the injured cow with its blown up jaw which was bleeding profusely. The cow was given medical aid and it later delivered a calf. The accused, identified as Nand Lal, a neighbour of the complainant, was arrested on Saturday evening.
Himachal Pradesh CM intervenes in cow cruelty case
The extreme cruelty angered the people of the state. Himachal chief minister Jai Ram Thakur too intervened in the incident on Saturday.
Bilaspur superintendent of police Diwakar Sharma said a case under Section 286 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 11of Prevention of Cruelty Against Animals Act was registered on May 26 and police had made one arrest in the case.
The owner of the bovine had claimed in the video that some miscreants were behind this act and that the cow was pregnant.
Sources say that it is common for villagers to keep crackers wrapped in wheat dough to eliminate wild animals like blue bulls that damage their crops.