Police Book Sarpanch for Animal Sacrifice in Village Festival
Complainant Adulapuram Goutham, 35, a cruelty prevention manager at the Stray Animal Foundation of India alleged that a goat and two buffaloes were killed during the festival and that one buffalo was buried near a temple after the sacrifice.
Hyderabad: Siddipet police have registered a case against a village sarpanch, deputy sarpanch and others after an animal rights activist alleged that goats and buffaloes were sacrificed during the Bodrai festival in Kukunoorpally village earlier this month.
The FIR, registered at Kukunoorpally police station on May 22, invoked Section 325 of the BNS and Section 6 of the Telangana Animals and Birds Sacrifices Prohibition Act. According to the complaint, the alleged sacrifices took place between May 13 and 14.
Complainant Adulapuram Goutham, 35, a cruelty prevention manager at the Stray Animal Foundation of India alleged that a goat and two buffaloes were killed during the festival and that one buffalo was buried near a temple after the sacrifice.
“I first came across the incident through videos uploaded on social media. In one of the videos, the goat’s neck was being brutally bitten until the animal died. In some cases, they were also killing animals by striking the neck. From what we saw, it was clearly a form of animal sacrifice,” Goutham said.
“We went to the village and found festival banners carrying photographs of the village sarpanch and deputy sarpanch and several villagers confirmed the event was organised under the sarpanch’s leadership,” he added.
The complaint stated that one buffalo was allegedly sacrificed near the Gandi Mysamma temple at Gandhinagar and another near the Sri Mahankali temple and one of the buffaloes was buried at the same spot after the sacrifice. According to Goutham, villagers associated the sacrifices with religious belief and superstition.
“Many villagers believe sacrificing animals will bring rewards or blessings. But there is already a prohibition act in force in Telangana. Even if someone defends it in the name of tradition, the law comes first,” he said, adding, “I have insisted they do a postmortem on the animals as well since police usually will avoid it for the same tradition and superstition as the reason.”
Police said a case was registered after preliminary enquiry and investigation is underway.
