"Cattle wealth of the country has to be protected at any cost," a court here has ruled and urged the government to step in and draft a national policy to protect animals.
Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau made this observation Oct 9 while awarding life imprisonment to seven men convicted of cattle lifting.
"Cattle wealth of the country has to be protected....also because it is an issue which is closely knitted with the religious beliefs and sentiments of a class/ section of society which have to be respected", said the court.
The court urged the government to draft a national policy to protect, preserve and take care of rescued animals especially milch cattle.
The court observed that convicts Ankur (25), Anwar (22), Sanwar(24), Khalid (23), Tasleem (25), Hasrat (22) and Asif (30) belong to a gang of cattle lifters from Mewat in Haryana known to assault policemen and having no fear of the law.
They were convicted under various sections dealing with attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy, voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty and various provisions of Delhi Agriculture Cattle Preservation Act and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act by the court.
"There is a very serious lacuna, rather mischief, in the existing laws dealing with the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, the Delhi Agriculture Cattle Preservation Act and also the general law (Indian Penal Code/ Code of Criminal Procedure) which are totally silent on the manner in which the rescued animals are required to be dealt with so that they are not subjected to the same violations which these laws seek to prevent," the court observed.
According to the prosecution, seven men with Yakub (since expired) had hatched a criminal conspiracy to lift cows and buffaloes for slaughtering and to kill anyone who resisted them.
On the intervening night of Jan 18-19, 2013 in pursuance of this criminal conspiracy they lifted three cows, one calf and one buffalo from the Dividing Road of Sector 16-17, Rohini in outer Delhi.
