Cows vs Humans
In its edition of 13th August, the Times of India newspaper has reported that the Uttarakhand High Court in a unique order has declared itself as the "legal guardian of members of bovine family across the state" and gave a series of directions to the state government for the welfare of cow and other stray cattle of Uttarakhand. It has also been reported that the judges have cited references from various religious scriptures like Upanishads, Arthashashtras, as well as teachings of Jainism and Buddhism. We should be definitely fascinated by this show of erudition of the judges!
What are the directions given in the judgement? Going through the current trend of BJP-RSS dominated states, the High Court judges have asked the government to ensure banning of slaughter of cows, bulls, bullocks etc and selling of beef and beef products in any form throughout the state. But, the judges did not restrict themselves within that step only. They have asked the Government to provide medical treatment to all stray cattle, obviously free because the stray cattle will not be able to pay for the treatment. The State police have been ordered to patrol the rural areas once in 24 hours to ensure that no cow is slaughtered. Do not get impatient, there is more. The court directed the chief engineers of state and national highways to see that stray cattle do not come onto the roads. The municipalities and district magistrates have been directed to construct shelters for housing stray cattle. Not only that. The court has ordered that, "the shelters should be constructed on scientific lines taking into consideration the comfort of the animals to be housed there. No commercial charges should be levied for supplying electricity and water connections in the shelter". However, the gem of the piece is the statement of the judges : "No pain and agony should be caused to the animals. Cruelty to animals also causes psychological pain to them. In Hindu mythology every animal is associated with god". We are enthralled!
The order detailed the shelters for cows in such a time when every day we are hearing new exposes in the shocking and horrifying story of rapes and tortures on the girls of the women?s shelters of Bihar and UP. These are not one or two stray cases. One survey conducted recently has exposed that such is the reality in almost all such shelters ? protectors are actually became the predators. We cannot believe that the Uttarakhand is free from such incidents and such instances have been reported from such homes of the state.
The judges have expressed their compassion for the stray cattle roaming in the streets. But, what will be the fate of thousands of destitute people who have been forced to roam in the streets, rail stations of the cities and towns all over India, including Uttarakhand, due to severe exploitation, poverty and forcible evictions from their villages? Who will protect them from such exploitation and oppression, which is ruining their lives every day? Who will provide them food and shelter?
The judges have asked police to patrol the roads once in 24 hours. Are the police protecting the poor people, from getting killed by rich upper caste people? Who will order them to patrol the streets to protect the ordinary Muslims from getting killed by the cow brigades of the Hindutva forces?
The same High Court has spoken about the equal rights of the animals in a previous order. What about the equal rights of all human beings? Everyday rights of dalits, religious minorities like Muslims are being trampled all over India. How the dalits can be stopped to enter the temples in the name of purity?
The judges have told that in Hindu mythology every animal is associated with gods. We have also heard that that very Hindu religion also says that god resides in every human being. Then how can dalits and Muslims be tortured and even murdered in the name of Hinduism? There may be some cases where the court has stood in support of dalits. But in most cases, the courts, the High Courts of different states have acquitted the killers from the higher castes on the plea of absence of proof.
Animals should have equal rights ? court says. Should not the court first ensure the equality of human beings? Can they do that? The present society is based on the exploitation and oppression on some classes by the exploiting classes. The courts have always stood for the exploiters. That is why the Maruti workers are handed life imprisonment and are languishing in jail for last nine years. Such tortures and harassment of the workers by the capitalists and also the state administration are rampant in Uttarakhand also and the High Court did not came to protect them.
Moral of the story: cow can be made equal because cows are not exploited and oppressed by other cows, but human beings are divided into two classes : exploiters and exploited. Minority of exploiters are exploiting and oppressing the immense majority of exploited. Like judiciary a section of the humans are sitting above on a high pedestal to protect this exploiting system. They can be guardians of cow, but not all humans. They are the guardians of only the exploiters. They can talk about equality of cows or other animals. But how can they talk about real equality of all humans and ensure that? After all, humans are not cows.
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