The group of gaurakshaks gave a 24 hours ultimatum to the district collector to declare cow as rastra maata. The group of gaurakshaks gave a 24 hours ultimatum to the district collector to declare cow as rastra maata.

Eight men, proclaiming themselves as ‘gauraskshaks’ or protectors of cows, allegedly consumed pesticide and attempted suicide demanding that the cow be declared rashtra maata at the office of Rajkot district collector on Thursday even as another group blocked the highway in Junagadh briefly.

Later in the evening, Hira Lavaria, one of the eight to attempted suicide died and two others were critical.

Around 50 men gathered at the collector office on Shroff Road and eight of them allegedly consumed pesticide. But policemen present at the spot detained the eight and rushed them to PDU General Hospital in the city. They were admitted to the emergency ward of the hospital.

The group had assembled under the banner of little-known Gauraksha Ekta Samiti (cow protection unity committee). The eight who attempted suicide belonged to Rajkot, Morbi, Jamnagar and Surendranagar districts of Saurashtra region. They were identified as Amra Danidhariya (28), a resident of Gondal taluka in Rajkot; Hira Lavariya (35), a resident of Jasdan taluka in Rajkot; Raghuvirsinh Jadeja (27), a resident of Jodiya taluka in Jamnagar district; Dinesh Lotiya (45), a resident of Morbi; Kamlesh Rabari (39), a resident of Morbi; Vala Bharvad (36), a resident of Thangadh taluka in Surendranagar district; Vijay Sindhav (28), a resident of Limdi in Surendranagar and Dipak Vaghela (30), a resident of Jasdan.

Doctors said two of the eight were serious. “Out of the eight, two require observation while the remaining six are better. By observation, we mean they are critical but not critical enough to lead to death. These two are Dipak Vaghela and Dinesh Lotiya,” medical superintendent of PDU General Hospital Dr Dharmendra Vatsraj said.

The suicide bid comes a day after the group submitted a memorandum to district collector on Wednesday, demanding cow be declare rashtra maata or the national mother. “In order to prevent cruelty to gauvansh, slaughter of gaumaata (cow mother) and prohibit export of beef, the government of India should declare gaumaata the rashtra maata. If it doesn’t do so, we shall sacrifice our lives,” they had stated in the memorandum submitted to collector Manisha Chandra.

Confirming the incident, Rajkot city police commissioner Anupam Singh Gehlot told The Indian Express that the district collector had alerted police after the group submitted a memorandum on Wednesday and threatened to commit suicide.

Later, a group of gaurakshaks tried to block state highway 25 at Madhapar cross roads on the outskirts of Rajkot. But they were driven away by the police. A similar group blocked the Junagadh-Veraval highway in Madhuram area of Junagadh also. However, the police reached the spot soon and cleared the road.

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