Bengaluru: A group of 20 students from Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith University created ruckus Tuesday, forcing shops to shut in Varanasi’s goat market. The ABVP-affiliated students, led by Kashi Mahanagar ABVP secretary Shivam Tiwari, alleged that they have seen a video where goats are being slaughtered in the area.
The students who demanded to see the IDs of the shopkeepers were shooed away by the residents and shopkeepers who countered asking to see the students’ IDs first.
It’s been dubbed the Mohammed Deepak effect online.
The over hundred year old goat market is located in the 2 km radius of the Kashi Vishwanath temple. People from nearby areas come to sell and buy goats here.
Inspector Vijay Kumar Shukla from Chetganj police station told ThePrint that they have written a letter to the municipal corporation to investigate if the market is legal or not.
The students alleged that the video showed a dead goat and blood everywhere. They alleged the presence of illegal slaughter houses in the area.
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No evidence of slaughter
On Tuesday afternoon, the students reached the spot and allegedly started banging on the doors of the nearby houses. A video is making rounds on social media, showing Tiwari along with other students shouting on the road.
The students can be seen asking for shops to be shut down. The residents and shopkeepers who were being asked to close the shops have countered the students by asking them for their “ID”.
The police said they did not find any slaughter house in the area. However, a dead goat was found in the market area. Local shopkeepers claimed the goat died due to an accident and the body was just lying there.
Chetganj is a densely populated area of Varanasi with residences and commercial buildings. Every year in October, the Nakkataiya Mela is organised here. Chetgunj along with nearby localities like Pilkhothi and rural areas have been hosting small, seasonal goat markets for decades now.
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Case registered
DCP Kashi Gaurav Banswal stated that slaughterhouses and meat sales are prohibited within a two-kilometre radius of the Vishwanath Dham. And that there was no evidence of slaughtering found in the area.
A case has been registered against unknown persons under BNS Section 325—mischief by killing or maiming animals. The case was registered on the basis of a written letter and the videos that the ABVP members showed the police.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)