india

Updated: Jul 02, 2017 20:52 IST

Cow vigilantes allegedly stopped three vehicles transporting cattle with valid papers and assaulted the drivers near Guwahati on Sunday evening. Police, however, declined to confirm the assault.

Police in Sonapur, about 30km east of Guwahati, said they acted on a report that members of a local unit of the Hindu Yuba Chhatra Parishad stopped a truck and two three-wheelers carrying cattle.

Local TV channels showed the vigilantes thrashing the cattle transporters but police did not confirm the assault as “no one filed any complaint”.

“The drivers had proper papers for transporting the cattle but we found some irregularities in the permits of the vehicles,” said an officer of the Sonapur police station.

While the truck had come from eastern Assam’s Tinsukia, the three-wheelers were transporting the cattle locally.

Kamrup (Metro) district commissioner of police Hiren Nath said he was not aware of any group having attacked the cattle transporters. “The vehicles have been sent to the transport department for verification and to check if they were carrying more cattle than the number permitted,” he said.

A PTI report quoted a police official as saying that the Hindu Yuba Chhatra Parishad group was from Dimoria. The official said a police team was dispatched and it took control of the vehicles and the persons.

The official said the transporters had proper challans for transporting the cattle. The report added that the two tempos returned from the Jagiroad market.

“The drivers themselves drove the vehicles to the office of the District Transport Officer and nobody complained of any physical assault. No one has filed any complaint. We cannot confirm any assault,” the PTI report quoted the official as saying.

Guwahati police deputy commissioner (east) Mohneesh Mishra too declined to confirm the beating up of the drivers and helpers as no one filed any complaint with the police yet.

Asked if this was a case of cow vigilantism, Mishra said it was being examined.

(With PTI inputs)