india

Updated: Jul 08, 2019 23:42 IST

The Madhya Pradesh police booked 12 cow vigilantes on Monday for wrongful restraint, confinement and voluntarily causing hurt to 24 people arrested on Sunday for allegedly transporting bovines without permission in Khandwa district, police said.

The case was registered against the cow vigilantes of Sanwlikheda village after a video showing 24 people tied to a rope and forced to chant Gau Mata Ki Jai went viral.

Police took action against 12 villagers on the basis of the video and registered the case under section 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, said Shiv Dayal Singh, Khandwa superintendent of police. “The villagers were identified with the help of the video. The accused have been arrested,” Singh said

The Congress-led MP government in June had approved changes to the Bovine Slaughter Prevention Act, which makes cow vigilantism a punishable offence. The change made seeking permission from the sub-divisional magistrate for transporting cows a must.