BENGALURU: With cow vigilantism on the rise and

just around the corner, Muslim legislators on Friday petitioned the BJP government, urging it to ensure adequate protection for cattle traders and transporters of sheep, goat, oxen, buffaloes and other animals. Acting on the petition, chief minister

directed DG&IG Neelamani Raju to initiate necessary steps.

In a letter to the chief minister, six Muslim legislators — Tanveer Sait, Raheem Khan, NA Haris, CM Ibrahim, Nasir Ahmed and Abdul Zabbar — urged Yediyurappa to direct police and district administrations to ensure vehicles carrying animals for sacrifice and slaughter were not obstructed.

The legislators stated Bakrid, which will be observed on August 12 this year, is a sacred festival of

and the tradition is to sacrifice animals to God on festival day. The request came in the wake of increasing incidents of attacks on vehicles transporting cows, besides cattle transporters being lynched across the country.

“This year too, the tradition needs to be continued and the government must ensure proper security so that there will be no obstructions for transportation of animals,” said the letter.