A car allegedly belonging to the Lucknow district convenor of the Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV), Akhand Pratap Singh, ran over a one-year-old calf in Janakipuram locality's Nivada area in the city on Wednesday (April 5). HYV is a youth organisation founded by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath whose administration has gone all-out to protect the cow in the state ever since he came to power.
A case against unidentified persons has been registered by the police on the complaint of Rajrani, the calf's owner and a resident of Nivada. She said in her complaint that a group of men, who were in an inebriated state, began driving from near a liquor store around 7.30 pm and ran over the calf which was tied along with a cow in the vicinity. She added the calf died after getting dragged for about 20 metres.
"The driver started the car and hit the calf, which was tied near the wine shop. The animal was dragged up to the spot where the road had turned. There he stopped the vehicle, as it was could not be moved anymore... A few locals had noticed the incident... Soon, all those inside the car left the car and fled," Rajrani said. Ashwini Kumar, her son, has accused the driver of being drunk and said that liquor bottles were found inside the car.
A case has been registered under sections 279 (rash driving) and 429 (mischief by killing or maiming cattle) of the IPC. Angry residents also vandalised the car and held demonstrations against the liquore store, which remained closed on Thursday (April 6).
Janakipuram Station Officer Satish Kumar Sinha was quoted by the Indian Express as saying: "The car has been seized but its owner is yet to be identified... A letter is being sent to the regional transport officer to know its owner. Once we find the owner, we would be able to question him about who was driving the vehicle at the time of the incident."
Local people claimed that the car belonged to Singh. His sister, on the other hand, told the daily that he had gone to Sitapur on Wednesday and that "the car belongs to him but it was with someone else at the time of the incident."
