Three cattle smugglers fired at a police team that intercepted them in the Puranpur area of Pilibhit district in western Uttar Pradesh on the morning of 13 August. An FIR was lodged against the unidentified smugglers, reports Hindustan Times.
Circle officer Lallan Singh said: “The police team that was travelling in a jeep escaped the attack unhurt. But a bullet hit the bonnet of their vehicle. Based on the complaint filed by Dharmendra Singh, an assistant sub-inspector who was present in the vehicle, an FIR has been lodged against the smugglers.”
The FIR was lodged under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act.
Clashes between cattle smugglers and police or village self-defence groups are routine across Bharat, especially in regions of West UP and Mewat. Such clashes always get highlighted by mainstream media if a cattle smuggler from the minority community is killed/injured: the smugglers then morph into dairy farmers in the media narrative and are painted as innocent victims of ‘blood-thirsty Hindutva gangs’ or police.
However, the number of cases in which villagers or police fall victim to the deadly cattle smuggling mafia are exponentially higher. But such incidents, like this one from Pilbhit, do not fit the narrative media is eager to peddle, hence such news is relegated to the inside pages with cursory coverage.
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