Days after several members of Kerala Youth Congress publicly slaughtered a calf in Kannur as a mark of protest against the Centre's regulation of banning sale of cattle for slaughter in animal markets across the country, the police on Thursday, arrested 8 persons in the case.
Eight persons including Youth Congress leader Rijil Makkutty were arrested by Kannur City police on charges of causing public nuisance and violation of public order.
The arrest comes days after the police registered a case under section 120 (a) of the Kerala Police Act. The arrested persons have also been charged under section 3, 11 (1a) (b) (l) and 11 (2) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, and section 143 under the Indian Penal Code.
We examined the video footage of the incident and identified the 8 people who were involved in the act. They were arrested around 12 pm near St Micheal’s school.KV Pramodan, Inspector, Kannur City
The others arrested in the case include Joshy Kandathil, Sudeep James, Justison Chandykolli, Sarafuddien Kattampally, TA Hari and MK Varun.
The Congress party leadership had distanced itself from the protest. While Rahul Gandhi had tweeted condemning the protest, the party suspended all the 16 members from the party for publicly slaughtering the calf at Kannur city junction, near the harbor.
On Saturday evening at around 3:30 pm, members of Youth Congress assembled at the busy Kannur City junction and slaughtered a calf atop a lorry. The meat was later distributed to the people. The incident had invited severe criticism, even from party functionaries including KPCC President MM Hassan and AICC Vice-President Rahul Gandhi.
In a video of the incident that BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan tweeted, Rijil Makkutty can be heard saying, “The government’s decision is an act of cruelty against a large population. To oppose this we will slaughter cattle in public and we will distribute the meat to the public.”
Then amidst cries of ‘Youth Congress Zindabad’ and ‘Narendra Modi you can’t ban beef’, a man can be seen slaughtering the cattle, slashing its neck with a butcher’s knife. Three children are also seen in the video, keenly watching the act of slaughter.
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