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A few months after a Muslim man was lynched by a mob in Mangaluru, the communally sensitive Dakshina Kannada district has seen another unprecedented development. Police seized the houses of two Muslims accused of transporting cattle without permits and have also gone to several mosques across the district and allegedly warned that the houses of people who violated the cow slaughter act would be seized.
A woman named Zohra, a resident of Patrame village in Belthangady taluk, had sold a cow and two male calves to traders from Sajipanadu in Ullal taluk. The two men, Mohammed Sinan and Ibrahim Khaleel, were transporting the cattle in a Ritz car on November 2.
According to the FIR registered at the Dharmasthala station, police accosted the Ritz car on the Dharmasthala-Southadka road at around 8 pm. After learning that the two men did not have a permit to transport cows, they registered a case under section 5 (transport of cattle for slaughter) and section 12 (penalties for various offences) of the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act and Section 11(1)(d) (transporting an animal by subjecting an animal to unnecessary pain) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
On November 6, police officials from the Dharmasthala police station arrived at Zohra’s house at around 5.30 pm and “seized” it. At the time, Zohra, who is in her mid-thirties, was not even in town. Her two young children were at home along with her elderly mother, Saaramma. The police locked them out of the house, put up a banner saying that the house had been “seized” and cordoned off the area.
Saaramma and the two children had to take shelter at a relative’s house, Abdul Latheef, Zohra’s relative, told TNM. “All their things were inside the house. They didn’t give them enough time.”
The next morning, Abdul said, he and others scrambled all over the district to get the house released. They had to petition the Superintendent of Police, whose office is 60 km away in Mangaluru, and the Puttur Assistant Commissioner’s court, which is 30 km away. Cases involving property seizure are heard in the jurisdictional revenue court, which in this case is that of the Puttur Assistant Commissioner.
The BJP government enacted the draconian Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act in 2021, replacing the previous cow slaughter act of 1964. Section 8 of the 2021 Act gives the police powers to search and seize. The 1964 law only allowed authorities to inspect premises where they believed an offence under the act was committed or likely to be carried out.
BM Bhat, the secretary of the Belthangady taluk unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-(M)), said that the manner in which the police had gone about the seizure of the house was illegal.
“First, the new cow slaughter act is a bad law and should be repealed. If the police go around seizing the houses of cattle farmers, then all the farmers in the state will be homeless because farmers sell cattle when required. What the police did was against social justice and unconstitutional.”
But even under this law, the police’s actions are illegal, Bhat said.
Bhat, who is also an advocate, said that the police had seized the cattle on the road and that Zohra’s house had nothing to do with the sale. “She is a cattle rearer and sold cattle which were of no use to her. The police had no business seizing her house when there were no clues to suggest that slaughter was going to be committed on her property.”
He also said that the police notice issued under section 8 was addressed to Saaramma but the house seized was Zohra’s. “The notice should have the name of the person whose house is being seized. Also, the police should issue the notice three days in advance and the seizure itself should be done in the presence of the tahsildar, who is a revenue official. None of this was done.”
Bhat said that similar procedural lapses were seen when the police seized a house of Ibrahim Khaleel, one of the accused, in Sajipa in Ullal taluk. The house that Ibrahim lived in was in his mother Nebisa’s name, but the notice was issued in the name of his brother Imtiyaaz.
Police conduct in the seizure of Ibrahim’s house was almost “farcical”, Bhat added. He said that the police seized the house on November 5, but the notice said that the house would be seized on November 4 at 4 pm. “This is the kind of madness that’s going on. We’re trying to get that house released now.”
“Creating awareness”
In the first week of November, police across Dakshina Kannada district visited several mosques and allegedly threatened to seize the houses of those who violated the cow slaughter act. The police, however, said that they were “creating awareness” about the act.
On November 7, police visited several mosques in Sullia and Belthangady taluks.
Hakeem Kokkada, Belthangady Youth Congress president and a member of the Kokkada mosque administration committee in Belthangady, told TNM that people at the mosque welcomed the constable who turned up on November 7.
“The constable said that police were ‘creating awareness’ so we welcomed him. Then we realised he was only talking about the cow slaughter act. We stopped him midway and asked him to leave.”
Hakeem said that it was unfair of the police to target Muslims in such a manner. “If they were creating awareness about this law, why do it in a place where people from only one community are there? It makes us out to be criminals as far as cattle slaughter is concerned. If Muslims are the only ones who are engaged in illegal cattle slaughter, why are the names of Hindus also mentioned in these FIRs?”
He said that for awareness programmes the police should have chosen a neutral place such as a public hall or invited people to the police station or government premises.
The district secretary of the CPI(M), Muneer Katipalla, wrote to the Inspector General of Police (Western range) Amit Singh, alleging that the police’s attitude was deeply disturbing as it limited the act of cattle slaughter to the Muslim community and criminalised a place of worship.
“The police have threatened at the mosque that the houses of those who violate the act will be confiscated. This sends a message that only Muslims violate the cattle slaughter act … Has the Dakshina Kannada police declared the Muslim community a 'criminal community' just as the British declared the tribal and nomadic communities as 'criminal tribes'?” the letter dated November 8 said.
Muneer’s letter also said that mosques in Sullia, Mogarpane, Dugaladka, Sannamoole, Kumbakodu and Aranthodu were among those visited by the police.
The letter then went on to list 11 cases between 2020 and 2021 in which Hindus were booked under various offences under the cow slaughter act. “In the wake of all these acts, did the local police conduct awareness programmes at the religious places of the concerned town? Did they issue a ‘property seizure’ warning in the concerned places of worship based on these FIRs?” the letter said.
“Conducting crime awareness programmes inside a religious place, especially on sensitive issues like cow slaughter, violates the ‘neutrality of the state’ declared by the Constitution,” Muneer said in his letter and urged police to conduct awareness programmes in neutral places where people of all faiths, castes, and gender identities can gather. He also asked that action be taken against the concerned police personnel.
Dakshina Kannada district Superintendent of Police K Arun told TNM that the police had been creating awareness programmes in several places about several laws, such as the Narcotics and Drug Psychotropic Substances Act and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
“Cockfighting is a practice in this district and we conducted awareness about the law against it in temples. We had done other awareness programmes in churches and temples too. But we have now told officers to select neutral places so that all people can come,” he said.
A senior officer said that the police had the power to seize the houses of people suspected to be involved in offences under the cow slaughter act. “We have seized the houses of 5-6 people in the district. To avoid that, we began awareness programmes. We did it in religious places because we had to start somewhere.”
