Raipur: The Uttarakhand police arrested a 32-year-old man Saturday for allegedly sexually assaulting a calf in Chamoli district.
The accused, Alam Ansari, works as a JCB driver with a firm in Chamoli. He was arrested by the district police following a complaint filed by his co-worker Lalit Mohan, Chamoli police station in-charge Rajesh Singh told ThePrint.
“He has been booked under IPC sections 377 (having carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal) and 511 (attempt to commit offence not made punishable by other specific sections), as well as section 11 (3) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. He will be produced in court Sunday. Investigation is on,” added Singh.
The incident has enraged Hindu organisations in Chamoli and Dehradun, who have sought strict action against the accused, and reiterated a demand for a ‘land jihad’ law to “curtail” attempts by Muslims to buy land in the hills of Uttarakhand.
According to the Chamoli police station in-charge, Ansari had admitted to sexually assaulting the female calf in Pipalkoti village while returning home after a night shift Friday, when his co-worker Lalit saw him committing the crime.
Singh said Ansari is originally from Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, and had been living in Chamoli since 2014.
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‘Insult to our community’
An NGO called Uttarakhand Raksha Abhiyan, which is spearheading a campaign against alleged ‘land jihad’ and ‘love jihad’ in the state, reiterated its claim that a “rising Muslim population” is leading to a “demographic shift in several parts of the state”, but the Pushkar Singh Dhami-led government has failed to take action.
“This is what we have to see now. Cows are revered by Hindus across the world, and a Muslim man tried to insult the community as he sexually abused a year-old female calf while the Uttarakhand government is silent on our persistent demand for law against land jihad launched by Muslims,” Darshan Bharti, a right wing activist who heads the Uttarakhand Raksha Abhiyan, told ThePrint.
“We had been persistently demanding that the government make the law so that attempts by Muslims to buy land in the hills (can) be curtailed. It’s leading to a demographic shift in several parts of the state. It was acknowledged by the Dhami government, which finally asked the DGP of Uttarakhand last year to investigate and present a report to it. But nothing has happened so far,” he added.
Bharti was also associated with the controversial December 2021 Haridwar ‘Dharma Sansad’, a religious congregation where multiple provocative speeches were made by participating seers. These had included calls to arms to protect the “dharma” and statements calling for Muslims to be killed “if needed”.
Bharti has been persistently speaking against alleged ‘love jihad’ in the hills of Uttarakhand. He had also alleged illegal construction of mosques on public land across the state.
“Police were unwilling to book the accused. It happened only after we persisted with our demand to arrest the accused,” Dhirendra Singh Rawat, who said he was a BJP youth leader who also leads Uttarakhand Raksha Abhiyan work in Chamoli, told ThePrint.
“Muslims coming from Uttar Pradesh are purchasing land in our areas as locals are poor and willing to sell their properties at throwaway prices secretly. Hindus need to rise up and unite against the nefarious designs of the Muslims trying to intrude in the hills,” he added.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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