NEW DELHI: The Union Minister, Pratap Sarangi writes stunning letter to Odisha Chief Minister after seeing the track carrying cattle illegally in the state. The minister also asked the state government to make the existing law passed in 1960 more effective to prevent such crime.
The statement comes after a truck accident, carrying over 100 cattle was heading towards West Bengal, which overturned on NH-60 near Balasore district and that causes the death of around 40 cattle along with 3 men.
In his letter to the Odisha Chief Minister, Sarangi said that illegal transporting of cattle was fecund in the state and this pointed at the leniency in the law enforcement coupled with alleged tacit support from the agencies that are supposed to enforce the Orissa Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act 1960 and the Prevention to Cruelty to Animals Act,1960. “When I was in Kolkata this morning, I heard the news. I have spoken to the top officials in Odisha. I can without any doubts say the cattle were being taken to be slaughtered in abattoirs of Kolkata and Bangladesh”, the Union Minister said.
The Minister also demanded that cow slaughter should be treated at par with the offence of murder of a human. He said that the punishment under the Orissa Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act to be made as stringent as that in case of murder. “This Orissa Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1960 was one of the pioneering legislations in the country under the leadership of late Biju Patnaik.
It’s time to make punishment under it more stringent at par with murder”, he wrote in his letter. He demanded that the incident should be investigated, and the accused should be given the strictest punishment. “I call upon you to have the said incident investigated and exemplary punishment meted out to the accused”, he added.