The police on Sunday arrested a cattle trader from Jokatte here on the charge of illegally transporting four head of cattle. Meanwhile, a case was registered against a group of activists said to be from the Bajrang Dal for allegedly assaulting the trader when he was transporting the cattle.
The Urwa Police said that Mohammed Jokatte was found transporting the cattle even as a group of activists waylaid the vehicle near the police station. Mohammed Jokatte did not have any documents for transporting the cattle from Jokatte to an abattoir in Kudroli. He was booked under the provisions of the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act.
Mohammed Jokatte also filed a complaint against the activists said to be from the Bajrang Dal accusing them of assaulting him. The police have registered his complaint against the activists, who are yet to be identified, under Sections 323 (hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
Meanwhile, Bajrang Dal activists circulated on social media an image of Mohammed Jokatte tied to the vehicle in which he was transporting the cattle.
Condemning the act of the activists, Social Democratic Party of India’s Mangaluru City South Assembly unit president Suhail Khan said that the activists have made an attempt to create communal tension by attacking Mohammed Jokatte. Rightful intervention by the police helped in preventing the matter from getting escalated, he said and added that those involved in the attack should be arrested at the earliest.
