The mutilation and killing of a pregnant cow in a village in Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka has given fresh blood to the narrative voiced by Hindutva groups that cow smuggling and illegal cattle transport are rampant in the region – loaded with insinuation that Muslims are behind these incidents.

On January 19, the carcass of a pregnant cow was found in Kondakuli of Salkoda village in Honnavar taluk of Karnataka’s Uttara Kannada district. The carcass was mutilated and the meat was taken away. The brutality drew widespread condemnation from all major political parties in the state as well as social organisations. Local leaders of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party tried to outdo each other while issuing statements. The police went to unusual lengths in the case, advertising cash awards via newspapers to catch the culprits. 

While the Salkoda incident is one of uncommon brutality, there is a consensus among politicians, including those from the Congress, that stealing cows is rampant across the district. Although everyone, regardless of political affiliation, appears to buy into the narrative, in Uttara Kannada, actual cases of theft are quite low. But cases involving cattle transport and meat transport have not come down.

Activists and civil society organisations, who want the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act of 2020 to be repealed, are of the view that the data related to cases of illegal transport of cattle and meat obscures the fact that their root cause is the criminalisation of food cultures, with traders and transporters ultimately paying a heavy price. 

After the KPSPCA was enacted, farmers have been forced to abandon cattle on the road, and the sale of cattle no longer provides enough remuneration.

Cow smuggling and calls for violent retribution

The Congress had assured in its manifesto before the assembly elections in 2023 that it would repeal the KPSPC Act. But despite the promise, some senior leaders of the party made extremely provocative statements.

Fisheries Minister Mankal S Vaidya, who is also the district-in-charge minister and represents the Bhaktal seat, said he would have the police shoot the culprits on the street. 

“This is injustice. We worship cows and rear cows with a lot of love. We have grown up drinking its milk. I have told the police department clearly – whoever it is, take action against them. I have told them to make arrests. If something worse happens, I will not ask why. If it continues, it might be wrong of me to say it, but I will have them shot in the middle of the street or at a [traffic] circle,” he said. 

The remarks have drawn flak from many quarters in the state, including the Karnataka unit of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, which demanded that he be booked. Many others sought his resignation.  

A week earlier, the Honnavar police investigating the case had shot 19-year-old Faisal in the leg. He was allegedly shot when he tried to escape from police custody.

Cow vigilantism in a communal tinder box

The pregnant cow, belonging to Krishna Achari, was killed on January 18. The meat cut off from the carcass was allegedly used in a wedding feast. 

Two days after the incident, Superintendent of Police M Narayana visited Achari’s family and assured them that the culprits would be caught. “We will treat the killing of the cow as seriously as we treat the murder of a human and take legal action against the miscreants and arrest them. The chief minister and home ministers have sought information from us and directed that stern action be taken. We have told the organisations from the community that eat beef to also help us catch the culprits,” he said. 

On January 28, the SP announced a cash reward of Rs 50,000 for anyone who provides information on absconding suspects, Mujamil and Wasim Sulaiman Mirajikar of Bhatkal. The Uttara Kannada district police placed advertisements in at least four newspapers announcing the cash reward. 

An IPS officer told TNM that both had multiple cases of cow thieving against them. 

The police in Karnataka have in the past announced cash rewards for informants, but these have usually been after high-profile murder cases such as that of Gauri Lankesh.

Six teams were formed to catch the culprits. The police have so far arrested one person and are on the lookout for two more suspects who are absconding. 

The Uttara Kannada police also released data on illegal cow transport and cattle theft registered in the past five years. While 138 cases of illegal cow transport were registered and 866 cows were “rescued” during the period, the region witnessed 23 cases of cow theft and the rescue of 34 cows. In all, 467 people had been arrested. The statement also said that the police had stepped up patrolling and set up check-posts to curb such incidents. 

Venkatramana Hegde, a local BJP leader who organised a protest of around 350 local people in Kavalakki, near Kondakuli, however, alleged that cattle thieving is rampant in the district but police don’t register cases. “This time, because it was so bad, they registered a case.” He blamed the Congress government for inaction on cases of cattle theft and announced a cash reward of Rs 25,000 for the police if they catch the culprits.

Was the police action extraordinary? 

An IPS officer working in the district told TNM, “When the Paresh Mesta incident happened, the whole of Karavali burnt for weeks.”

In 2017-18, rioting and violence hit coastal Karnataka for weeks after the Hindu Jagarana Vedike and BJP leaders concocted a story that a man named Paresh Mesta had been tortured and killed by Muslims. 

Paresh Mesta had disappeared on December 6, 2017, during a protest in Honnavar that turned violent. His body was found two days later in a lake. The Hindu Jagarana Vedike and BJP leaders such as Shobha Karandlaje turned his death into an anti-Muslim campaign. Shobha and other leaders, such as R Ashoka, claimed that Paresh had been boiled in hot oil. Rioting, violence, and arson went on for weeks. 

Asked if there was intelligence that something similar could have happened this time, the officer said they wanted to ensure nothing untoward happened. “An accidental death led to such tension. One single tip is enough. Nobody should take the law into their lands. Communal harmony should not be disturbed. We’re taking precautions.” 

Some Muslim organisations also intervened to defuse the tense situation. The Majlis-e-Islah wa Tanzeem, an organisation of the Nawayathi community in Bhatkal, held a press conference condemning the killing of the cow.  The organisation’s president, Inayatullah Shahbandari, told TNM, “We condemned the killing of the cow and the stealing of its meat because stealing is haram for us. We eat beef, but we don’t eat stolen meat.”

Eight months ago, the Tanzeem had enforced a closure of all beef shops in Bhaktal, where the organisation operates, after allegations of illicit cattle trade. “For one month, we did not allow beef shops to open. We have to teach the cow thieves a lesson. Our Hindu brothers told us to provide information if we heard anything. We are happy [that they reached out to us]. We have also extended support to the police department.”

Are claims of transport and theft exaggerated?

Home department figures show that Uttara Kannada had just five cases of cow theft each in 2023 and 2024, which are among the lowest in the state. Bidar district had the highest number at 26 cases, followed by Raichur with 24 and Bengaluru city with 22. 

In 2024 too, Bidar had the highest number of cases at 39, followed by Bengaluru district, Bengaluru City, and Kalaburagi district, each with 29 cases. 

According to police data, in the 15 years between 2010 and 2024, the whole district registered 61 cases of cattle theft involving 74 heads of cattle and arrested 90 people. 

Joida-based activist Yamuna Gaonkar said claims of rampant cattle theft needed to be taken with a pinch of salt. After the strengthening of the Cow Slaughter Act, many farmers simply let go of their cattle when they could no longer afford to feed them, she said.

Many heads of cattle could be seen on any given day on a 30 km stretch of the Karwar-Kadara road and an inner road connecting Sadashivgad and Majali. “Why haven’t they taken those cattle?” she asked.

In terms of illegal transport of cattle, Uttara Kannada registered the highest number of cases both in 2023 (39) and 2024 (43). In 2023, Hassan and Tumakuru districts in 2023 came in second and third, while it was Shivamogga and Hassan in second and third place in 2024. 

Police data also show that between 2010 and 2024, cattle meat weighing 18,638 kg (including skin and bones) had been seized in connection with 88 cases. 

A law tilted against Dalit, Muslim communities

KL Ashok, an activist of the Karnataka Komu Souharda Vedike, was not surprised by the numbers. “Dalits, Muslims and many poor people eat beef. Wherever people eat beef, the transport of meat is bound to happen.”

He said that the cases in Mangaluru were a classic example of what was wrong with the law. He said that beef eaters in Mangaluru often accessed beef from Kerala. “The moment it crosses the border, it becomes illegal.”

Similarly, the transport of cattle was also bound to occur when there were no slaughterhouses nearby. Ashok said that there were at most six slaughterhouses in the state, in Raichur, Kalaburagi, Bidar, Mysuru, Mangaluru, and Bengaluru. “The government just does not give permission to set up slaughterhouses.”

Organisations like the PUCL, KKSV, and the Ahara Namma Hakku (Food is our Right) campaign are demanding that the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, often described as draconian, be repealed. 

Siddharth Joshi, one of the members of the Ahara Namma Hakku campaign who studied the impact of the 2020 Act, said that the issue of cattle transport was a “farmers’ issue, not a traders issue” because the milk economy functioned on the ability of farmers to sell injured, diseased cattle or cows that no longer gave milk. 

Under the Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Cattle Preservation Act, 1964, the slaughter of cattle above the age of 12, or if the animal is injured, or unfit either for breeding or giving milk after certification from the competent authority, was permitted. But under the 2020 act, no cattle can be slaughtered. Sale and transport of cattle only for “bona fide agricultural or animal husbandry purposes” is permitted with certification from the competent authority. 

The Congress government, which came to power in May 2023, had included the repeal of the 2020 act in its poll manifesto but has made no move since to act on the pre-election promise. 

According to rules framed under the 2020 act for the sale and transport of cattle within a state or between states, farmers must have online permits from veterinary doctors at both the source and destination of the transaction, certifying the purpose for which the animal has been sold. Apart from these, rules under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act regarding the space in the vehicle per animal, provision of drinking water, etc, also apply. 

“Forget the cattle trader who is anyway suspect. These rules make it onerous for even cattle owners and farmers to transport cows to the vet or cattle markets,” Siddharth said. 

He also pointed out another problem with the 2020 act. “Even if we accept that religious sentiments are associated with indigenous cows, why are Jersey breed cattle not allowed to be slaughtered [for food]? It is too bulky to work as a draught animal. What will a farmer do with a Jersey bull? Keep feeding it?”

Siddharth also said the law was applied selectively. “This law is designed to target the Qureshi butcher community [who are Muslims]. You criminalise only one part of the transaction – the transport, not the sale or purchase. Have you ever heard of a farmer being arrested for selling cattle? Farmers are also hurt because an animal that they previously sold for Rs 8,000 now gives them only about Rs 2,000-3,000 because of the risks involved.” This upsets their practice of keeping a fixed number of cattle for milking and replacing the ones that don’t give milk with new ones.

This story was republished from The News Minute as part of the NL-TNM alliance. It has been lightly edited for style and clarity. 

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