Case against Youth Congress workers for ox slaughter in public

Kannur, May 29: Kannur city police have registered a case against Youth Congress leader Rijil Makkutty and some workers of the party for slaughtering an ox in public on Saturday as a mark of protest against the Union government notification banning the sales of cattle for slaughter.

Police said the case was registered under Section 120-A of Kerala Police Act for causing nuisance and violation of public order by slaughtering the animal in a public place. Police said the case was registered on the complaint of Yuva Morcha district general secretary Ratheesh C C, and it is a bailable offence.

Since the police could not directly register a case in some complaints as stipulated by the Kerala Police Act, the case was registered on Sunday after taking the consent of the judicial first class magistrate court, said the police officials.

According to Rijil, who is the president of Kannur Lok Sabha constituency of the Youth Congress, the animal was slaughtered as a mark of protest because the decision of the Union government was an act of cruelty against a large population, and it was not intended to cause any public nuisance. "By this order the government was aiming to create communal polarization in the country, and the government chose Ramzan season to implement this law because it wanted to target a particular community," he said.

The animal was slaughtered in public in a small goods carriage on Saturday and the meat was distributed by the YC workers. The incidence had caused widespread protest from various segments of the society, especially the BJP, with the party state president Kummanam Rajasekharan terming it as a 'barbaric act'.