B'luru illegal abattoirs: 23 held for rioting, attacking animal right activists, cops

Bengaluru: Twenty-three people have been arrested on charges of rioting in two incidents when animal right activists visited sites where cows were either allegedly slaughtered or cow meat was sold, police said on Wednesday.

Bengaluru police commissioner T Sunil Kumar told reporters that 10 people were arrested for rioting, attacking a police party and destroying a police vehicle at Chikka Bettahalli near Yelahanka New Town on Tuesday.

The incident occurred when the police personnel accompanied a court commissioners and members of a cow protection NGO – Gau Gyan Foundation – to check illegal abattoirs in the area, he said.

A Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation bus was damaged in the incident.

"Three cows and a calf were rescued from there and 10 people arrested under cow protection laws for rioting and slaughtering cows," said Kumar.

Narrating the sequence of events in the second incident which occurred on October 14, he said that Nandini, an animal rights activist and her two woman assistants, had lodged a complaint about cows being slaughtered at Talaghattapura near Bengaluru.

Kumar said Nandini too accompanied the police to the spot though she was asked not to go there.

He said police arrested three people for allegedly slaughtering cows under the cow protection law and rescued some cattle.

At the site, Nandini's carhad allegedly dashed against an autorickshaw and a garage, which irked residents.

This led to a riotous situation, the official said, adding Nandini suffered some "minor injuries".

Ten people were arrested on charges of rioting in this case.

However, Nandini in a statement to the media yesterday alleged that a mob attacked her and she sustained injuries to her head besides a fracture to her hand.