Section 144 has been imposed in Ayodhya district to restrain locals from abandoning their cattle on the streets (Representative Image) | Photo Credit: BCCL

Kanpur: Despite several claims by the state government and respective local bodies, the stray cattle menace in Uttar Pradesh has spun out of control in multiple districts including Ayodhya and Kanpur among others. Such is the situation that local administration in Ayodhya was compelled to impose Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) just to stop residents from abandoning their bovines.

The enormity of the situation can be illustrated with the help of a recent incident where farmers in the state's Auraiya district barged into a village school for the sake of their cattle. The incident took place on Saturday when the school in Dakhilpur village was in session, said a report by Times of India. Armed with sticks and stones, local farmers entered the school and forced students and faculty members to vacate the premises.

Banda: Students of Bisanda's Singhpur Mafi middle school say studies affected as cows have been tied in campus. Villagers(pic 3)say cows are from adjacent villages&used to destroy crops. Police say, "Villagers have been asked to vacate campus. Cows shifted to cow shelter" (12.01) pic.twitter.com/rGPTosrt7a — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) January 13, 2019

Tara Chandra, principal of Poorva Madhyamik Vidyalaya in Dakhilpur told officials that the locals then locked hundreds of stray cattle inside the school campus, essentially using it as a free-of-cost cow shelter. In her complaint to the police, the principal also said that one of the teachers landed on the receiving end of the mob's fury when he tried to object to the school being used as an asylum for bovine creatures. An FIR has been registered in this regard at the Phahphoond police station.

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Similar instances have been reported from other parts of the state where farmers have locked up stray cattle in school buildings to protect their crops. In December of last year, a group of farmers in Aligarh led cows and bulls to a local school and bolted the campus from the outside.

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