Police on Thursday arrested a man who allegedly mutilated a cow that entered his field in the village of Mohaal in Punjab’s Jhelum district, according to a senior officer.
A first information report (FIR) — seen by Dawn.com — was filed against two landowners who allegedly attacked and mutilated a cow that crossed onto their land under Section 429 (Mischief by killing or maiming cattle, etc, of any value or any animal of the value of fifty rupees) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The complainant, who is the owner of the cow, alleged that the suspects struck its front leg with an axe, severely injuring it. They fled the scene while threatening the complainant.
Jhelum District Police Officer Tariq Aziz Sindhu told Dawn.com that one of the suspects had been arrested from a forested area near the scene of the incident.
“Raids are underway to arrest the second suspect,” he said. “Police have registered a case under Section 429 of the PPC and investigations are underway.”
“Cruelty against animals is intolerable and after proper investigation, those found guilty will be presented before the court of law,” the DPO added.
The FIR read that the cow had been shifted to a veterinary hospital in Chak Aka for treatment.
Animal cruelty is not a new phenomenon in Pakistan.
On Sunday, a landlord and his son were charged with animal cruelty after they tortured a buffalo and tried to cut off its legs for entering their home in Minchinabad, in Bahawalnagar.
Police said that a farmer from Munshi Hathar owned some cattle and one of them accidentally entered the house of a landlord while grazing on October 18.
The landlord allegedly trapped the animal and, along with his son, tried to cut off its legs with axes and stabbed it repeatedly. They allegedly left the buffalo on the road in a critically injured state. After video footage of the incident went viral on social media, police took action and arrested the main suspect.
In September, a female camel, allegedly tortured by a landowner in Sukkur, was handed over to a private animal shelter in Karachi.
According to an FIR, the complainant alleged that when his camels were returning after drinking water from a pond on the land, one of the suspects hit one of them with an axe, breaking its leg. Then he dragged the camel with his tractor, causing severe injuries.
Last year, a magistrate in Sanghar remanded six suspects into police custody in connection with the mutilation of a camel that saw the animal’s right leg chopped off in Mund Jamrao village. The incident took place when a landlord allegedly chopped off the camel’s leg as punishment for foraging into his field for fodder.
In July this year, that camel stood up for the first time since the incident with the help of a prosthetic leg.
