Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Sept 22: In the absence of stringent law to curb the smuggling of bovine animals in the State, the menace has reached an alarming situation with scores of animals being smuggled from neighbouring States of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to Kashmir Valley daily via Jammu region.
Though the police has tightened its noose on the bovine smuggling in the State by increasing the patrolling and installing nakas on the National Highway right from Lakhanpur to Banihal including Dhar road and on Jammu –Poonch Highway right from Akhnoor to Behram Gala on Mughal road, the menace is still continuing with smugglers changing the modus operandi.
According to sources, the bovine smuggling which has become a flourishing trade for the smugglers as the animals fetch high price in the market after being smuggled to Kashmir where they are high in demand, the smugglers have made it a do and die battle for themselves and at various occasions either they broke the police nakas and even hit the cops on duty to reach their destinations.
Sources said various times the alert policemen chase the bovine smugglers’ vehicles for kilometers together and nab them but this job also proves risky for the cops.
Despite the curbs being imposed by the State Police in Jammu region to check the illegal trade, the bovine smuggling is continuing, sources said, adding daily 50 to 100 bovine animals are rescued by police which are on their way to Kashmir Valley. Even the police has managed to nab some notorious smugglers and kingpins of the trade in recent past in Kathua and Rajouri districts.
With police intensifying its vigil on the bovine trade, the smugglers have also adopted the new routes via jungles and river basins to smuggle the bovines to Kashmir Valley by foot and recently the Sunderbani Police rescued over a dozen such animals which were taken to Kashmir Valley via a jungle in the area. Lakhanpur Police in Kathua district also foiled such two three bids recently in which animals were being smuggled on foot from Punjab via Ravi basin.
Sources said to evade police eye at Nakas the smugglers download the animals from the vehicles over one or two kilometers from the naka and take them by foot ahead the naka. But this attempt of the smugglers was also curbed by the police who chased them smugglers in jungles after getting the inputs and arrested them.
Sources said the menace has increased with opening of Mughal road and majority of smugglers use this road. Earlier they were taking the animals by foot from this belt to Kashmir but the number was much less which has increased manifold fold after the opening of Mughal road for traffic, sources added.
Sources said the animals, besides the Jammu region are mostly smuggled from neighbouring States of Punjab and Himachal to Kashmir and being a sensitive issue the increasing menace has given sleepless nights to Police in Jammu region. But with the absence of a stringent law the police is unable to curb this menace fully, sources added.
Sources said breaking of the police nakas by smugglers by driving their vehicles fast some times result into accidents also. The police personnel manning the nakas also face risk to their lives in this way, sources added.
Sources said to dodge the police, the smugglers also use passenger vehicles like Tata Sumos, tempo trawlers etc by laying special curtains over them. The trade has a huge margin, the smugglers even make it a do or die battle for them, sources added.
Sources said as the trade has a huge margin with increasing demand of the beef in Kashmir Valley those animals are mostly being smuggled who have outlived their utility. The animals who are neither able to plough the field nor give milk are being sold to bovine smugglers through agents who take them to those areas of the State where the demand of beef is increasing and the butchers pay hefty sum to them, sources added.
Moreover in the absence of a stringent law the smugglers get emboldened knowing that there is every possibility of getting released after a small fine of Rs 200 to 300 they take every risk of smuggling bovines. And in most cases when police managed to catch them they leave vehicles behind and slip from there. However the police has to act under the provisions of the law and it can’t go astray, sources said.
The police detains the smugglers under Section 144 prohibiting the transportation of animals from one district to another. The cases are also registered against the smugglers under Cruelty to Animals Act but later after paying the fine of Rs 200 to 300 the smugglers get themselves released and also the bovines are restored to them, sources added.
Sources said unless there is total ban on the bovine smuggling and stringent laws are made to stop it, the bovine smuggling can’t be curtailed.
Being a sensitive issue bovine smuggling becomes some times a law and order problem also as people try to take mileage out of it, said a senior police officer. So to contain the law and order situation, the police puts its best efforts to frustrate the designs of smugglers, he added.
The Police however said that there is no increase in the bovine smuggling and registration of cases in various place stations of Jammu region is same as compared to last year.
SSP Jammu Atul Goel said some times even police recommends harsh steps including PSA for hardened smugglers who are repeatedly involved in the trade. Moreover various preventive measures have also been taken by the police to curb bovine smuggling.
There is no fast increase in the cases of bovine smuggling in Udhampur as per police as in comparison to 50 cases registered last year 55 have been registered this year, said SSP Udhampur, Anil Mangotra.
In Rajouri district alone over 100 animals were rescued during last 22 days of this month at various nakas by Police, sources said adding the DIG Rajouri –Poonch, Danish Rana and SSP Rajouri, Mubassir Latifi and SSP Poonch Shamsheer Hussain have issued special instructions to the concerned SHOs to install night nakas to curb the menace of bovine smuggling in their areas.
Meanwhile, the police seized 10 bovine animals kept at an isolated place for transportation by the smugglers in Dharamsal area of district Rajouri last evening.
Acting on a specific information, Dharamsal police party conducted raid and rescued all the 10 bovine animals while smugglers managed to escape. They were waiting for the vehicle for transportation of the animals to Kashmir via Mughal road. The police started manhunt for the absconding smugglers.
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