You can’t extort money in name of non-violence: HC to vigilantes

Ahmedabad: A group of cow vigilantes and an animal infirmary were castigated by the Gujarat high court on Monday for illegal interception of a mini-truck carrying goats ahead of Bakr-Eid and for opposing the police’s order to return the goats to their owner. Justice Nirzar Desai rebuked the vigilantes and said, “Ahimsa na naame tame loko passe thhi paisa na padavi shako (You cannot extort money from people in the name of non-violence).”
Seth Anandji Kushalji Khodadhor Panjrapol Sanstha, a cattle pound in Sanand, had moved the high court.In all, 22 goats were brought to the panjrapol after volunteers of Namaste Foundation, led by one Dipa Joshi, intercepted the truck in Paldi. The police authority inquired into the allegations of illegal transportation of animals and found that the truck had permission to carry 17 animals. The police imposed a fine on the animal owners and the officer concerned and ordered the infirmary to return the custody of the goats to the owner.
The panjrapol approached the HC against the police authority’s decision and demanded registration of an FIR under Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. However, the state govt opposed it and additional advocate general Mitesh Amin submitted that the Animal Welfare Board of India has recognized 294 societies and Namaste Foundation is not one of them. Any vigilantism by such an unrecognized organization should not be allowed, it was argued.
The city police accused Namaste Foundation’s volunteers of violating traffic laws by unauthorizedly intercepting the truck and threatening the driver. The police urged the HC to take “a strict view against such fake and motivated vigilantism”. It made it clear that any vigilantism by anyone besides 294 registered societies cannot be considered in accordance with law. “Their whole act in this issue prima facie cannot be considered as per law,” the court said.
The police further stated that such activity ahead of Bakr-Eid and Rath Yatra can disturb law and order. “If we permit such vigilantism to the vehicle carrying goats, then it is going to create serious issues in society in the whole of Gujarat…The whole incident is clearly an organized plan by vested interests with nefarious designs to take law into their own hands.”
When the HC showed its inclination to impose a heavy fine on the petitioner, the petition was withdrawn.