The fate of 11 camels brought from Rajasthan to Jharkhand for sacrifice hangs in balance after the Bagodar police recovered them from the possession of a group of people and deployed a section of armed security personnel to protect them and maintain law and order, said SDPO Bagodar, Binod Kumar Mahto.
The recovery took place on Wednesday after an animals’ rights organisation lodged a complaint with the Bagodar police station at Khairon village in Giridih district, alleging that camel slaughter was illegal and animals should be rescued.
Alongside a group claimed that its members had brought these camels from Rajasthan to sacrifice them on the day of their festival Bakrid. Security men are guarding camels in a field falling under Bagodar police station in Bagodih area of Giridih district, about 40 km from here.
An FIR under IPC of 379,429,420,188,120B,11(A)(B)(C) and 1,(K) against Yusuf Miya, Idris Ansari, Sakura Ansari, Abatab Alam, Asgar Ansari, Isfile Ansari, Yash Mohammed, Khan Miya and Chaudhary Miya has been lodged and action would be taken under the direction of court, the SDPO added.
Police said that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India permits slaughter of only four categories of animals and since camel does not figure in any one of these categories, it cannot hand them back to these people for slaughter.
“The camels are in our possession. We will do whatever the court decides in this case,” said the the SDPO.
"While these protesters were up in arms wanting to sacrifice these animals, each of these camels that were too soft and looked exhausted were kept on the ground with security men holding guns in their hand to protect these animals,” said SDO, Bagodar Pawan Kumar Mandal.