Incredible as it may sound, a goat was taken into custody by police in Chattisgarh on a trespass complaint.
The goat, which was accused of being a 'repeat offender', was released later but its owner was not lucky.
Abdul Hasan (40) was arrested after his goat allegedly ventured into the garden of a judge's bungalow in Korea district, police said today, as the incident gave fodder to the opposition Congress to slam the state police.
Hasan was booked under IPC's section 447 (criminal trespass) and 427 (mischief causing damage) based on the complaint of Judicial Magistrate (first class) H Ratre yesterday, SHO Janakpur police station RS Paikra told PTI.
The goat had many times raided into the garden of the Ratre's bungalow, located in Janakpur town, about 350 km from here, and ate flowers and plants there, he said.
"My goat scaled the boundary wall again and ate flowers and vegetables from the garden. It was taken to the police station and then the police also brought me in," Hasan said.
Several warnings were given to the owner of the ruminant animal by the judge as well as police but the incident continued to happen, the SHO said.
The magistrate had yesterday called up senior police officers to complain about the goat's antics following which the animal and Hasan were brought to the police station, he said. However, the goat was released later, he added.
Hasan was today produced before the court of a Tehsildar which sent him to two days remand, the SHO said, as he refused bail.
"The 'arrest' of a goat is ridiculous. Chhattisgarh police has made fun of themselves by doing so," Congress leader Shailesh Nitin Trivedi said, adding, "Those accused in rape cases are moving freely".
"The most painful and disappointing aspect is the entry made by an ASI of Chhatisgarh police in diary that the goat used to graze despite several warnings. Chhattisgarh police is communicating with even goats, this is one aspect of the incident," he added.
It may be recalled that a parrot in Chandrapur in Maharashtra was detained by police last year after an old woman filed a complaint against it for swearing at her and making obscene remarks.
The parrot, named as Hariyal, was reportedly trained for two years by its owner, Suresh Sakharkar, to abuse his stepmother, Janabai.
The bird apparently insulted Janabai every time she walked past Sakharkar's home in Rajura, Maharashtra. The family were living separately apparently because of a property dispute.
The police did not press charges against the parrot, but handed it over to the state's forestry department.
Last year too, cops locked up a pigeon in Manwal village in Punjab over suspicions of it being a Pakistani spy! It was listed as a 'suspected spy' because of a note in Urdu found taped to its foot.
