Bengaluru animal rights activists attacked by mob for reporting illegal cow slaughter

In a horrific incident that took place in Bengaluru, two animal rights activists were brutally attacked by a group of people who were involved in illegal cow slaughter on the outskirts of the city.

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However, what makes the matter even worse is that the victims have claimed that local police, who registered their complaint, were hand in glove with the illegal cow slaughter.

What the victims witnessed

One of the victims, a 45-year-old software engineer with Wipro, Nandini Neeraj, and her friend Rijil, 33, were on the outskirts of Bengaluru on Saturday when they saw a few cows being illegally taken to a slaughterhouse.

"I was going with my friend in my Innova car near Tipu Circle in Avalahalli and noticed that nearly 14 desi cows were being taken illegally to a slaughterhouse," Nandini, a resident of Koramangala, told Deccan Herald.

The duo went back and filed a complaint with Talaghattapura police at around 7.30 pm on Saturday. Nandini and her friends asked the cops to take immediate action.

Police led them into trap

However, the victims claimed that the police led them into a trap, where the group of 15 to 200 men attacked them.

"Police took the complaint and told us that 15 policemen were sent to the spot to rescue the cows. We waited for nearly one hour but didn't receive any message about the rescue operation. We thought the rescue team failed to trace the location and we decided to go to the location and show them the spot," Nandini explained.

When the victims reached the spot, they did not find a single police personnel. Instead, a mob of over 100 men allegedly started throwing stones at their car. They smashed the front and rear windshields of the car.

"I dashed the car into a shop and an electric pole since I was unable to see through the front windshield. Besides, it was raining. With great difficulty, we managed to save our lives," Nandini added.

According to reports, police also accompanied the complainants to the spot but did not attempt to save them from the mob.

"There was no attempt by the police to stop the slaughter but they instead got off the car and exposed me to the mob," Nandini was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

'Wanted to kill us'

Though the victims were lucky enough to escape the scene, Nandini has claimed that the mob wanted to kill them.

"We later returned to the police station and filed another complaint around 11.45 pm. Police registered a case under IPC Sections 143 (unlaw assembly), 147 (rioting), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 354 (assault or use of criminal force on woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 427 (causing damage). Whoever attacked us had the intention to kill us," said Nandini.

Was the police involved

However, police have said that the cows were rescued. They said that action will be taken after a thorough probe of the incident.

"There are contradictory versions about what occurred and we need to investigate and find out. The locals say there was an accident involving the complainant's car," police said.

Meanwhile Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has also criticised the assault.