Nobody can wash their hands off cow vigilantism: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Friday asked the chief secretaries of 22 states to file compliance reports in pursuance of its order on laying down a mechanism to sternly deal with cow vigilante groups, saying “nobody can wash off their hands”.

The top court, on 6 September, had directed all 29 states and seven union territories (UTs) to take steps to stop violence in the name of cow protection and asked them to appoint a senior police officer as the nodal officer in every district within a week to check such vigilante groups.

A bench headed by chief justice Dipak Misra said, “let the compliance reports be filed...nobody can wash off their hands (from their duty). We will give directions to all the states.” The bench, also comprising justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, was informed during the brief hearing that five states, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, and Gujarat, have already filed their compliance affidavits and Bihar and Maharashtra would be filing it during the day.

It then asked the counsel for the remaining 22 states to file compliance reports by 13 October and fixed PILs, including one filed by Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi on the issue, for hearing on 31 October.

At the outset, senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for Gandhi, said the central government be directed to frame a national policy on preventing incidents of cow vigilantism.

She also said there were several judgements, which make mandatory the award of compensation to the victims of such crimes, but unfortunately, the money was not being paid. Jaising then raised the issue of Junaid, who was killed by a group of fellow passengers while returning to his Ballabhgarh home with his brothers after Eid shopping in Delhi on June 23 and said his family members were not paid any compensation and now, his father is ill and undergoing treatment at a hospital in Noida in Uttar Pradesh.

“I am asking for the formulation of a scheme on compensation,” she said. “Don’t mix up the issues,” the bench said.

Earlier, the apex court had passed a slew of directions to stop violence in the name of cow protection and asked the states to appoint a senior police officer as nodal officer in every district to act promptly to check cow vigilantes from behaving like they are “law unto themselves”.

It had asked the states to form a dedicated task force in every district to stop such acts and directed their chief secretaries to file a status report giving details of actions taken to prevent incidents of cow vigilantism.

The court had also asked the states to ensure highway patrolling after it was pointed out that such incidents took place on highways on the pretext that vehicles are carrying beef. Besides Gandhi, Congress leader Tehseen Poonawalla has also filed a similar petition.