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'''Cattle theft''', more commonly, '''cattle raiding''', or '''cattle lifting''' is a property crime in India.<ref>{{cite book|author=David H. Bayley|title=Police and Political Development in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hkLWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA114 |year=2015|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-7849-9|page=105}}, Quote: "Referring to 1963, among cognizable offenses the most common form of crime was theft (33.2 percent of all cognizable crime). The next most prevalent was housebreaking (20.8 percent), followed by rioting (4.27 percent), cattle theft (3.57 percent), criminal breach of trust (2.8 percent), '''Cattle theft''', more commonly, '''cattle raiding''', or '''cattle lifting''' is a property crime in India.<ref>{{cite book|author=David H. Bayley|title=Police and Political Development in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hkLWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA114 |year=2015|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-7849-9|page=105}}, Quote: "Referring to 1963, among cognizable offenses the most common form of crime was theft (33.2 percent of all cognizable crime). The next most prevalent was housebreaking (20.8 percent), followed by rioting (4.27 percent), cattle theft (3.57 percent), criminal breach of trust (2.8 percent),
⚫ murder (1.63 percent), (...)."</ref><ref>, Table 8.4, Crime in India 2015, Government of India</ref><ref>, ANI, Deccan Chronicle (Jul 3, 2017)</ref> It was an ancient royal ritual,{{efn-ua|"There were many royal rituals in ancient India. They involved such activities as cattle raids, ..."<ref name="Avari2016">{{citation|last=Avari|first=Burjor|title=India: The Ancient Past: A History of the Indian Subcontinent from c. 7000 BCE to CE 1200|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XziTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT106 |year=2016| publisher= Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-23672-6|pages=106–}}</ref>}} an act of war among pastoral peoples,{{efn-ua|"in dry arid deserts like the Thar it would have been moveable wealth that was more desirable than control over unproductive land. The looting of cattle was a form of warfare, locally addressed as dhads, involving rival Rajput groups and had been used to augment cattle wealth as well as to settle social and political disputes."<ref name="Kothiyal2016">{{citation|last=Kothiyal|first=Tanuja|title=Nomadic Narratives: A History of Mobility and Identity in the Great Indian Desert|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=be-7CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA109|date=14 March 2016|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-08031-7|pages=109–}}</ref>}} a traditional form of protection of livelihood and defense of community honour,{{efn-ua|"David Gilmartin has demonstrated that in nineteenth century Punjab cattle stealing was undertaken by young men to show their prowess. It was a practice associated with protection of clan livelihood as well as clan honour. Village headmen as well as clan chiefs along with rassagirs extended protection to networks of cattle theft," I would argue that in the Thar, the ability to carry out such thefts was closely associated with the ability to resolve disputes.<ref name="Kothiyal2016"/>}}{{efn-ua|"Far more important for British officials in (p 36) the nineteenth century, however, were the connections between cattle raiding and the solidarity of local communities. Particularly among pastoral and semi-pastoral groups in the Punjab on the fringes of agricultural settlement, cattle stealing had long involved the competitive raiding of community grazing grounds, and was, as some British officials suggested, a practice associated with the protection of clan livelihood and the defense of community honour. Physically undertaken largely by young men, 'who show off their prowess by lifting the finest animals they hear of', cattle stealing was viewed by many local leaders as far from criminal.}} and a colonial- and postcolonial era crime.{{efn-ua|"(Preface:)Cattle theft was a common crime in British India, and yet one marked by contradictions. While the protection of property was for many a defining feature of the modern state, colonial administrators were often loath to interfere in the negotiations by which Indians commonly arranged the return of stolen cattle. ... (p. 35) Cattle and buffaloes (which were often lumped together in official discussions of this crime) were critical to the practice of agriculture in much of north India, particularly in those areas where animal power was needed to operate wells for irrigation. British officials thus recognised early on the importance of cattle ownership as a critical adjunct of the establishment of a productive agricultural economy, and of clear, revenue-paying rights to land. <ref>{{citation|last=Gilmartin|first=David|year=2003|title=Cattle, crime and colonialism: Property as negotiation in north India|journal=The Indian Economic & Social History Review''|volume = 40|issue=1|pages =33-56}}</ref>}}
murder (1.63 percent), (...)."</ref><ref>, Table 8.4, Crime in India 2015, Government of India</ref><ref>, ANI, Deccan Chronicle (Jul 3, 2017)</ref> In the ancient and medieval era India texts, stealing cattle is described as a crime and sin, a motif that appears in Hindu mythologies.<ref name=hiltebeitel76/><ref name=Sathaye47/><ref name=olivelle35/>


In colonial- and postcolonial era, it has been a common crime but one marked with contradictions.{{efn-ua|"(Preface:)Cattle theft was a common crime in British India, and yet one marked by contradictions. While the protection of property was for many a defining feature of the modern state, colonial administrators were often loath to interfere in the negotiations by which Indians commonly arranged the return of stolen cattle. ... (p. 35) Cattle and buffaloes (which were often lumped together in official discussions of this crime) were critical to the practice of agriculture in much of north India, particularly in those areas where animal power was needed to operate wells for irrigation. British officials thus recognised early on the importance of cattle ownership as a critical adjunct of the establishment of a productive agricultural economy, and of clear, revenue-paying rights to land. <ref>{{citation|last=Gilmartin|first=David|year=2003|title=Cattle, crime and colonialism: Property as negotiation in north India|journal=The Indian Economic & Social History Review''|volume = 40|issue=1|pages =33-56}}</ref>}} According to David Gilmartin, the crime of cattle theft was perceived by the colonial era British officials are "potential political danger" that threatened "to corrupt the whole structure of the administration, for its pervasiveness threatened to undercut the position of the state as the protector and legal guarantor of the individual as a productive owner of revenue-producing property".<ref>{{citation|last=Gilmartin|first=David|year=2003|title=Cattle, crime and colonialism: Property as negotiation in north India|journal=The Indian Economic & Social History Review''|volume = 40|issue=1|pages =38}}</ref> In contemporary times, the demand for meat has led to cattle becoming a target of mass-theft.<ref>, Palash Ghosh, The International Business Times (02-04-2014), Quote: "(...) the illegal '''mass-theft of cattle is a huge problem''' thousands of miles away from the Chisum Trail – on the border between India and Bangladesh. Along the largely porous boundary between Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, cattle-raids and cattle-smuggling, often conducted by criminal gangs, raise hundreds of millions of dollars annually in illicit profits. The activity is so lucrative and dangerous that it often costs the lives of the perpetrators and innocent bystanders. (...) Bimal Pramanik, an independent researcher in Kolkata, told the Monitor that Bangladesh has '''an insatiable demand for beef'''. “Bangladeshi slaughterhouses cannot source even 1 million cows from within the country. If Indian cows do not reach the Bangladeshi slaughterhouses, there will be a big crisis there,” he said, adding that he estimates three-fourths of all cows slaughtered in Bangladesh originated in India. “In this thriving trade, cows worth 50 billion rupees are sent across to Bangladesh every year. '''It’s the sheer economics of the trade that drives the smuggling''',” Pramanik added."</ref><ref name=harrisnytq1>, Gardiner Harris (MAY 26, 2013), The New York Times, Quote: "Cattle rustling, called 'lifting' here, is a growing scourge in New Delhi, as increasingly affluent Indians develop a taste for meat, even the flesh of cows, which are considered sacred in Hinduism. Criminals round up some of the roughly 40,000 cattle that wander the streets of this megacity and sell them to illegal slaughterhouses located in villages not far away. (...) 'These gangs mostly go after stray cattle, but they will also steal motocycles and scooters'. one police officer, Bhisham Singh, said in an interview. 'They kidnapped a woman recently and gang-raped her'."</ref> According to The New York Times and other sources, cattle theft for beef production is a lucrative business in India.<ref name=nytimes2013>, Gardiner Harris (MAY 26, 2013), The New York Times</ref><ref name=buncombe2012/><ref name=ibtimes2014>, Palash Ghosh, The International Business Times (02-04-2014)</ref> According to David Gilmartin, the crime of cattle theft was perceived by the colonial era British officials are "potential political danger" that threatened "to corrupt the whole structure of the administration, for its pervasiveness threatened to undercut the position of the state as the protector and legal guarantor of the individual as a productive owner of revenue-producing property".<ref>{{citation|last=Gilmartin|first=David|year=2003|title=Cattle, crime and colonialism: Property as negotiation in north India|journal=The Indian Economic & Social History Review''|volume = 40|issue=1|pages =38}}</ref> In contemporary times, the demand for meat has led to cattle becoming a target of mass-theft.<ref>, Palash Ghosh, The International Business Times (02-04-2014), Quote: "(...) the illegal '''mass-theft of cattle is a huge problem''' thousands of miles away from the Chisum Trail – on the border between India and Bangladesh. Along the largely porous boundary between Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, cattle-raids and cattle-smuggling, often conducted by criminal gangs, raise hundreds of millions of dollars annually in illicit profits. The activity is so lucrative and dangerous that it often costs the lives of the perpetrators and innocent bystanders. (...) Bimal Pramanik, an independent researcher in Kolkata, told the Monitor that Bangladesh has '''an insatiable demand for beef'''. “Bangladeshi slaughterhouses cannot source even 1 million cows from within the country. If Indian cows do not reach the Bangladeshi slaughterhouses, there will be a big crisis there,” he said, adding that he estimates three-fourths of all cows slaughtered in Bangladesh originated in India. “In this thriving trade, cows worth 50 billion rupees are sent across to Bangladesh every year. '''It’s the sheer economics of the trade that drives the smuggling''',” Pramanik added."</ref><ref name=harrisnytq1>, Gardiner Harris (MAY 26, 2013), The New York Times, Quote: "Cattle rustling, called 'lifting' here, is a growing scourge in New Delhi, as increasingly affluent Indians develop a taste for meat, even the flesh of cows, which are considered sacred in Hinduism. Criminals round up some of the roughly 40,000 cattle that wander the streets of this megacity and sell them to illegal slaughterhouses located in villages not far away. (...) 'These gangs mostly go after stray cattle, but they will also steal motocycles and scooters'. one police officer, Bhisham Singh, said in an interview. 'They kidnapped a woman recently and gang-raped her'."</ref> According to The New York Times and other sources, cattle theft for beef production is a lucrative business in India.<ref name=nytimes2013>, Gardiner Harris (MAY 26, 2013), The New York Times</ref><ref name=buncombe2012/><ref name=ibtimes2014>, Palash Ghosh, The International Business Times (02-04-2014)</ref>


India has over 30,000 illegal slaughterhouses that operate in filthy conditions.<ref name=krishna116/><ref name=petahindu/> According to ''The New York Times'', cattle theft is partly a source of supplies to illegal slaughterhouses.<ref>, Gardiner Harris (May 26, 2013), The New York Times, Quote: "Cattle rustling, called “lifting” here, is a growing scourge in New Delhi, as increasingly affluent Indians develop a taste for meat, even the flesh of cows, which are considered sacred in Hinduism. Criminals round up some of the roughly 40,000 cattle that wander the streets of this megacity and sell them to illegal slaughterhouses located in villages not far away."</ref> India has over 30,000 illegal slaughterhouses that operate in filthy conditions.<ref name=krishna116/><ref name=petahindu/> According to ''The New York Times'', cattle theft is partly a source of supplies to illegal slaughterhouses.<ref>, Gardiner Harris (May 26, 2013), The New York Times, Quote: "Cattle rustling, called “lifting” here, is a growing scourge in New Delhi, as increasingly affluent Indians develop a taste for meat, even the flesh of cows, which are considered sacred in Hinduism. Criminals round up some of the roughly 40,000 cattle that wander the streets of this megacity and sell them to illegal slaughterhouses located in villages not far away."</ref>


==Mythology, rituals and texts== ==Mythology, rituals and texts==
Ancient myths in India such as those found in the Vedas mention cattle raiding, where it is described in terms of cosmogonic significance.<ref>David Gilmartin (2003), Cattle, crime and colonialism: Property as negotiation in north India, ''The Indian Economic & Social History Review'', Volume 40, Issue 1, pages 35-37</ref> These cow-theft myths trigger war and a cycle of retaliations such as in the story of ], a warrior Brahmin avatar of Hindu god ], who kills numerous Kashatriyas (warrior caste) after the theft of his father's mythical cow by the king.<ref name=hiltebeitel76>{{cite book|author=Alf Hiltebeitel|title=Rethinking India's Oral and Classical Epics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MMFdosx0PokC&pg=PA460 |year=2009 |publisher= University of Chicago Press|isbn= 978-0-226-34055-5|pages= 460–462, with footnotes 76–78}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=James G. Lochtefeld|title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: N-Z|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g6FsB3psOTIC |year=2002|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-8239-3180-4|pages=500-501}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Cornelia Dimmitt|title=Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the Sanskrit Puranas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=re7CR2jKn3QC |year=2012|publisher=Temple University Press|isbn=978-1-4399-0464-0|pages=82–85}}</ref> Ancient myths in India such as those found in the Vedas mention cattle raiding, where it is described in terms of cosmogonic significance.<ref>David Gilmartin (2003), Cattle, crime and colonialism: Property as negotiation in north India, ''The Indian Economic & Social History Review'', Volume 40, Issue 1, pages 35-37</ref> These cow-theft myths trigger war and a cycle of retaliations such as in the story of ], a warrior Brahmin avatar of Hindu god ], who kills numerous Kashatriyas (warrior caste) after the theft of his father's mythical cow by the king.<ref name=hiltebeitel76>{{cite book|author=Alf Hiltebeitel|title=Rethinking India's Oral and Classical Epics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MMFdosx0PokC&pg=PA460 |year=2009 |publisher= University of Chicago Press|isbn= 978-0-226-34055-5|pages= 460–462, with footnotes 76–78}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=James G. Lochtefeld|title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: N-Z|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g6FsB3psOTIC |year=2002|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-8239-3180-4|pages=500-501}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Cornelia Dimmitt|title=Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the Sanskrit Puranas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=re7CR2jKn3QC |year=2012|publisher=Temple University Press|isbn=978-1-4399-0464-0|pages=82–85}}</ref> In the ''Ramayana'', states ], a myth speaks of the sins of "murdering children, sages and cows" leading to war, migration of communities and social upheavel. The story, states Hiltebeitel, not only condemns the murder of a sage and the theft of a cow, but also extends its analogy between calves and children.<ref name=hiltebeitel76/>


⚫ Cattle are mentioned in the Vedas more often than any other animals. Cattle raiding, states Burjor Avari, was an ancient royal ritual in India.<ref name="Avari2016"/> In the ''Rigveda'', the term ''Gavisti'' is mentioned in the context of conflict or battle, and this may be related to cattle raids state Macdonell and Keith.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Arthur Anthony Macdonell|author2=Arthur Berriedale Keith|title=Vedic Index of Names and Subjects |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t6TVLlPvuMAC |year=1995|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1332-8 |page=223}}</ref> The penalty for injuring a bull was ten cows, according to Calvin Schwabe, for the theft of a cow, death.<ref>{{cite book|author=Calvin W. Schwabe|title=Cattle, Priests, and Progress in Medicine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3h6RJVdZOlkC |year=1978|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0-8166-5867-1|page=28}}</ref>
In the ''Ramayana'', states ], a myth speaks of the sins of "murdering children, sages and cows" leading to war, migration of communities and social upheavel. The story, states Hiltebeitel, not only condemns the murder of a sage and the theft of a cow, but also extends its analogy between calves and children.<ref name=hiltebeitel76/> The ''Kamadhenu'' and Vasistha-Visvamitra conflict legend found in the ''Ramayana'', states Adheesh Sathaye, is based on cattle theft motif, where Visvamitra fails to steal the mythical cow, repents and transforms himself into a Brahmin sage.<ref>{{cite book|author=Adheesh A. Sathaye|title=Crossing the Lines of Caste: Visvamitra and the Construction of Brahmin Power in Hindu Mythology|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=LjsqDwAAQBAJ |year= 2015|publisher= Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-934110-8|pages=70–71}}</ref><ref name=Sathaye47>Adheesh Sathaye (2007), How to become a Brahman, Acta Orientalia Vilnensia, Volume 8, Number 1, pp. 47-58</ref>

⚫ Cattle are mentioned in the Vedas more often than any other animals. In the ''Rigveda'', the term ''Gavisti'' is mentioned in the context of conflict or battle, and this may be related to cattle raids state Macdonell and Keith.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Arthur Anthony Macdonell|author2=Arthur Berriedale Keith|title=Vedic Index of Names and Subjects |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t6TVLlPvuMAC |year=1995|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1332-8 |page=223}}</ref> The penalty for injuring a bull was ten cows, according to Calvin Schwabe, for the theft of a cow, death.<ref>{{cite book|author=Calvin W. Schwabe|title=Cattle, Priests, and Progress in Medicine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3h6RJVdZOlkC |year=1978|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0-8166-5867-1|page=28}}</ref> Stealing a cow, states Patrick Olivelle, is one of the crimes and sins in '']''.<ref name=olivelle35>{{cite journal | last=Olivelle | first=P. | title=Penance and Punishment: Marking the Body in Criminal Law and Social Ideology of Ancient India | journal=The Journal of Hindu Studies | publisher=Oxford University Press | volume=4 | issue=1 | date=2011-04-08 | doi=10.1093/jhs/hir011 | pages=35–37}}</ref>{{efn-ua|This ideology as developed in later Dharmasastras links specific sins to specific animal bodies. Manu has a long and specific list of animal wombs (and even plants) entered by people committing specific sins and crimes: (...) by stealing a cow, a monitor lizard (...)".<ref name=olivelle35/>}}


==History== ==History==
{{expand section|date=July 2017}} {{expand section|date=July 2017}}
⚫ Cattle looting is mentioned as a form of warfare among pastoral peoples in the history of India.{{efn-ua|"in dry arid deserts like the Thar it would have been moveable wealth that was more desirable than control over unproductive land. The looting of cattle was a form of warfare, locally addressed as dhads, involving rival Rajput groups and had been used to augment cattle wealth as well as to settle social and political disputes."<ref name="Kothiyal2016">{{citation|last=Kothiyal|first=Tanuja|title=Nomadic Narratives: A History of Mobility and Identity in the Great Indian Desert|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=be-7CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA109|date=14 March 2016|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-08031-7|pages=109–}}</ref>}} Competitive raiding a means to show prowess by youth and community solidarity in colonial era Punjab.{{efn-ua|"David Gilmartin has demonstrated that in nineteenth century Punjab cattle stealing was undertaken by young men to show their prowess. It was a practice associated with protection of clan livelihood as well as clan honour. Village headmen as well as clan chiefs along with rassagirs extended protection to networks of cattle theft," I would argue that in the Thar, the ability to carry out such thefts was closely associated with the ability to resolve disputes.<ref name="Kothiyal2016"/>}}{{efn-ua|"Far more important for British officials in (p 36) the nineteenth century, however, were the connections between cattle raiding and the solidarity of local communities. Particularly among pastoral and semi-pastoral groups in the Punjab on the fringes of agricultural settlement, cattle stealing had long involved the competitive raiding of community grazing grounds, and was, as some British officials suggested, a practice associated with the protection of clan livelihood and the defense of community honour. Physically undertaken largely by young men, 'who show off their prowess by lifting the finest animals they hear of', cattle stealing was viewed by many local leaders as far from criminal.}}


David Gilmartin states that "cattle were among the most ubiquitous and important forms of moveable property in India, and cattle stealing was among the most prevalent crimes in northern India during the colonial period" in the 19th century.<ref>David Gilmartin (2003), Cattle, crime and colonialism: Property as negotiation in north India, ''The Indian Economic & Social History Review'', Volume 40, Issue 1, pages 33-56</ref> However, adds Gilmartin, cattle thefts in India were "marked by contradictions" with many village and clan chiefs involved in cattle theft networks and shared in the profits in western Punjab. These were recognized by the colonial government as "key administrative intermediaries".<ref name=gilmartin33>David Gilmartin (2003), Cattle, crime and colonialism: Property as negotiation in north India, ''The Indian Economic & Social History Review'', Volume 40, Issue 1, pages 33-56, '''Quote:''' "(...) 'The heads of villages and even the chiefs of clans,' the British reported, 'connive at the practice, and participate in the profits.’ In the late nineteenth century almost all the leading men of the pastoral bar, the arid interfluvial tracts of the western Punjab, including many of those recognised as key administrative intermediaries by the British, were rassagirs-men who protected networks of cattle theft."</ref> The crime came to be known as "cattle lifting" (like shop lifting),<ref>{{cite book|author1=Rosanna Masiola|author2=Renato Tomei|title=Law, Language and Translation: From Concepts to Conflicts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MhrGBgAAQBAJ |year=2015|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-319-14271-5|pages=45–46}}</ref> and it was practiced by thieves, by organized mafia and by armies during conquest.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ranajit Guha|title=Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y5SrnXC-HNcC |year=1999|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-2348-8|pages=151–156}}</ref> Cattle theft were a source of riots and civil disturbances. Hundreds of riots erupted in colonial India over cow slaughter.<ref>{{cite book|author=Donald Eugene Smith|title=South Asian Politics and Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dknWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA22|year=2015|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-7908-3|page=22}}; Quote: "In undivided India hundreds of communal riots erupted over the killing of a cow by a Muslim or the passing of a noisy Hindu procession in front of a mosque."</ref> The village ''"]"'' (chiefs) pursued peace in the village, and British administrators added laws aimed at preventing cattle theft.<ref>{{cite book|author=Anand Pandian|title=Crooked Stalks: Cultivating Virtue in South India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pOqgYpCgCXsC |year=2009|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=0-8223-9101-5|pages=107–110}}, Quote: "Almost one-third of the charge sheets filed by a special party mobilized against Kallar cattle thieves in 1908, for example, were registered as pending because the accused had fled. Failure to detect and deter this class of 'most irritating and almost disastrous' crimes was cited as a principal rationale for the application of the Criminal Tribes Act to the Piramalai Kallars as a whole in 1918."</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=B. B. Chaudhuri|title=Peasant History of Late Pre-colonial and Colonial India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ljmIJySEm4UC |year=2008|publisher=Pearson |isbn=978-81-317-1688-5|pages=159 note 31}}, Quote: "a muqaddam had to look after maintenance of peace in the village, settlement of assorted disputes, prevention of crimes including cattle lifting,..."</ref><ref>David Gilmartin (2003), Cattle, crime and colonialism: Property as negotiation in north India, ''The Indian Economic & Social History Review'', Volume 40, Issue 1, pages 42-43, '''Quote:''' "(...) thefts were thus often reported to the police and tracking evidence brought into court. The Punjab Laws Act of 1872 specifically gave the government the power to impose collective fines when tracks led to suspect villages, largely as a form of pressure to gain evidence against suspects."</ref> David Gilmartin states that "cattle were among the most ubiquitous and important forms of moveable property in India, and cattle stealing was among the most prevalent crimes in northern India during the colonial period" in the 19th century.<ref>David Gilmartin (2003), Cattle, crime and colonialism: Property as negotiation in north India, ''The Indian Economic & Social History Review'', Volume 40, Issue 1, pages 33-56</ref> However, adds Gilmartin, cattle thefts in India were "marked by contradictions" with many village and clan chiefs involved in cattle theft networks and shared in the profits in western Punjab. These were recognized by the colonial government as "key administrative intermediaries".<ref name=gilmartin33>David Gilmartin (2003), Cattle, crime and colonialism: Property as negotiation in north India, ''The Indian Economic & Social History Review'', Volume 40, Issue 1, pages 33-56, '''Quote:''' "(...) 'The heads of villages and even the chiefs of clans,' the British reported, 'connive at the practice, and participate in the profits.’ In the late nineteenth century almost all the leading men of the pastoral bar, the arid interfluvial tracts of the western Punjab, including many of those recognised as key administrative intermediaries by the British, were rassagirs-men who protected networks of cattle theft."</ref> The crime came to be known as "cattle lifting" (like shop lifting),<ref>{{cite book|author1=Rosanna Masiola|author2=Renato Tomei|title=Law, Language and Translation: From Concepts to Conflicts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MhrGBgAAQBAJ |year=2015|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-319-14271-5|pages=45–46}}</ref> and it was practiced by thieves, by organized mafia and by armies during conquest.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ranajit Guha|title=Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y5SrnXC-HNcC |year=1999|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-2348-8|pages=151–156}}</ref> Cattle theft were a source of riots and civil disturbances. Hundreds of riots erupted in colonial India over cow slaughter.<ref>{{cite book|author=Donald Eugene Smith|title=South Asian Politics and Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dknWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA22|year=2015|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-7908-3|page=22}}; Quote: "In undivided India hundreds of communal riots erupted over the killing of a cow by a Muslim or the passing of a noisy Hindu procession in front of a mosque."</ref> The village ''"]"'' (chiefs) pursued peace in the village, and British administrators added laws aimed at preventing cattle theft.<ref>{{cite book|author=Anand Pandian|title=Crooked Stalks: Cultivating Virtue in South India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pOqgYpCgCXsC |year=2009|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=0-8223-9101-5|pages=107–110}}, Quote: "Almost one-third of the charge sheets filed by a special party mobilized against Kallar cattle thieves in 1908, for example, were registered as pending because the accused had fled. Failure to detect and deter this class of 'most irritating and almost disastrous' crimes was cited as a principal rationale for the application of the Criminal Tribes Act to the Piramalai Kallars as a whole in 1918."</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=B. B. Chaudhuri|title=Peasant History of Late Pre-colonial and Colonial India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ljmIJySEm4UC |year=2008|publisher=Pearson |isbn=978-81-317-1688-5|pages=159 note 31}}, Quote: "a muqaddam had to look after maintenance of peace in the village, settlement of assorted disputes, prevention of crimes including cattle lifting,..."</ref><ref>David Gilmartin (2003), Cattle, crime and colonialism: Property as negotiation in north India, ''The Indian Economic & Social History Review'', Volume 40, Issue 1, pages 42-43, '''Quote:''' "(...) thefts were thus often reported to the police and tracking evidence brought into court. The Punjab Laws Act of 1872 specifically gave the government the power to impose collective fines when tracks led to suspect villages, largely as a form of pressure to gain evidence against suspects."</ref>
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{{Decimals|19465*100/1358660|2}},{{Decimals|13608*100/1384731|2}}, {{Decimals|14768*100/1405835|2}}, {{Decimals|13604*100/1406992|2}}, {{Decimals|13990*100/1440356|2}}, {{Decimals|13417*100/1529844|2}}, {{Decimals|13417*100/1604449|2}},{{Decimals|12925*100/1678375|2}}, {{Decimals|15031*100/1689341|2}}, {{Decimals|12814*100/1629936|2}},{{Decimals|12076*100/1635251|2}}, {{Decimals|11031*100/1695696|2}}, {{Decimals|10769*100/1709576|2}},{{Decimals|10552*100/1719820|2}}, {{Decimals|10805*100/1778815|2}}, {{Decimals|9316*100/1764629|2}}, {{Decimals|8830*100/1771084|2}}, {{Decimals|7892*100/1769308|2}}, {{Decimals|7908*100/1780330|2}}, {{Decimals|6892*100/1716120|2}}, {{Decimals|7147*100/1832015|2}}, {{Decimals|6361*100/1822602|2}},{{Decimals|6390*100/1878293|2}}, {{Decimals|6172*100/1989673|2}}, {{Decimals|6522*100/2093379|2}},{{Decimals|6571*100/2121345|2}}, {{Decimals|6135*100/2224831|2}}, {{Decimals|6272*100/2325575|2}},{{Decimals|6703*100/2387188|2}}, {{Decimals|7706*100/2647722|2}}, {{Decimals|8474*100/2851563|2}},{{Decimals|8815*100/2949400|2}}| y1Title=Annual cattle theft reported in India per 100,000 people|y2Title=Percentage of cattle theft in major (cognizable) crime in India|colors=seagreen, orchid}}
The above graphs show: (a) the amount of cattle theft in India per 100,000 people, also called the ''rate'', during the years 1953&ndash;2015 (shown in colour seagreen) and (b) the share (as percentage) of cattle theft in total major (cognizable) crime during the same period (shown in colour orchid). The graphs are based on tables of ]. The above graphs show: (a) the amount of cattle theft in India per 100,000 people, also called the ''rate'', during the years 1953&ndash;2015 (shown in colour seagreen) and (b) the share (as percentage) of cattle theft in total major (cognizable) crime during the same period (shown in colour orchid). The graphs are based on tables of ].

According to Roshan Kishore, writing in ''Live Mint'', analysis of data published by India's National Crime Records Bureau shows that the proportion of cattle theft in overall theft in India declined during the period 1990&ndash;2014 both in the number of incidents reported and the value of the property taken. <ref>{{citation|last=Kishore|first=Roshan|title=How India steals|publisher=Live Mint|date=October 14, 2015|url=http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/BBhk3eBHpJwBFgxzAuZpxK/How-India-steals.html}} '''Quote''': "The share of cattle stolen has fallen both in terms of the number of incidents and the value of property during 1990-2014."</ref>


{{Graph:Chart|width=400|height=400|xAxisTitle=Years from 1953 to 2015|yAxisTitle=Numerical values|legend=Legend:|type=line|x=1953,1954,1955,1956,1957, 1958,1959,1960,1961,1962, 1963, 1964,1965,1966,1967, 1968,1969,1970,1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975,1975,1977,1978,1979,1980,1981,1982, 1983, 1984,1985,1986,1987, 1988, 1989,1990,1991,1992, 1993, 1994,1995,1996,1997,1998, 1999,2000,2001, 2002,2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010,2011, 2012,2013,2014,2015|y1=26859,20855,18223,19924, 20340, 23832,20577,19222,19867,23122, 23557,23504,22243,22525,26644,26468,24288,21110,25183, 24357, 24499, 26264, 25531,26567,25006,27397,25417,23572,21692,19727,18050,15817,19465,13608,14768,13604,13990,13417,16659,12925,15031, 12076,11031, 10769, 10552,10805, 9316,8830, 7892, 7908, 6892,7147,6361, 6390, 6172,6522, 6571,6135,6272,6703,7706, 8474,8815|y1Title=Annual cattle theft reported in India|colors=#ff8000}} {{Graph:Chart|width=400|height=400|xAxisTitle=Years from 1953 to 2015|yAxisTitle=Numerical values|legend=Legend:|type=line|x=1953,1954,1955,1956,1957, 1958,1959,1960,1961,1962, 1963, 1964,1965,1966,1967, 1968,1969,1970,1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975,1975,1977,1978,1979,1980,1981,1982, 1983, 1984,1985,1986,1987, 1988, 1989,1990,1991,1992, 1993, 1994,1995,1996,1997,1998, 1999,2000,2001, 2002,2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010,2011, 2012,2013,2014,2015|y1=26859,20855,18223,19924, 20340, 23832,20577,19222,19867,23122, 23557,23504,22243,22525,26644,26468,24288,21110,25183, 24357, 24499, 26264, 25531,26567,25006,27397,25417,23572,21692,19727,18050,15817,19465,13608,14768,13604,13990,13417,16659,12925,15031, 12076,11031, 10769, 10552,10805, 9316,8830, 7892, 7908, 6892,7147,6361, 6390, 6172,6522, 6571,6135,6272,6703,7706, 8474,8815|y1Title=Annual cattle theft reported in India|colors=#ff8000}}
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The above graph shows the annual numbers of reported cattle theft in India during the years 1953&ndash;2015, also based on tables of ]. The above graph shows the annual numbers of reported cattle theft in India during the years 1953&ndash;2015, also based on tables of ].


A 2013 report by Gardiner Harris's in the ''Delhi Journal'' of ''The New York Times'' stated that cattle theft had increased in recent times in New Delhi, linked to an increase in the consumption of meat among Indians.<ref>, Gardiner Harris (MAY 26, 2013), The New York Times</ref><ref name=tomei45>{{cite book|author1=Rosanna Masiola|author2=Renato Tomei|title=Law, Language and Translation: From Concepts to Conflicts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MhrGBgAAQBAJ |year=2015|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-319-14271-5|pages=43–46}}</ref> A 2013 report by Gardiner Harris's in the ''Delhi Journal'' of ''The New York Times'' stated that cattle theft had increased in recent times in New Delhi, linked to an increase in the consumption of meat among Indians. The meat was primarily chicken, but included beef. Harris argued that cattle were left free to roam the streets, making them easy targets.<ref>, Gardiner Harris (MAY 26, 2013), The New York Times</ref><ref name=tomei45>{{cite book|author1=Rosanna Masiola|author2=Renato Tomei|title=Law, Language and Translation: From Concepts to Conflicts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MhrGBgAAQBAJ |year=2015|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-319-14271-5|pages=43–46}}</ref> According to ''The Hindu'' newspaper, analysis of data published by India's National Sample Survey 2016 shows that less than one per cent of Hindus in the ] consume beef or buffalo meat. Over the ten year period, 1999-2000 to 2011-2012, the consumption of beef or buffalo meat by Hindus in India declined from 19 million to 12.5 million. <ref>{{citation|author=''The Hindu'' and India Datalabs|publisher=The Hindu|title=More Indians Eating Beef, Buffalo Meat|date=October 29, 2016|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/%E2%80%98More-Indians-eating-beef-buffalo-meat%E2%80%99/article16085248.ece}} '''Quote''': "These findings come from National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data. Three rounds of the Household Consumption Expenditure survey of NSSO (51, 55 and 68), spanning a decade — including the latest one from 2011-12 — were analysed by The Hindu in collaboration with India Datalabs, based at the Observer Research Foundation."</ref>

According to a 2014 report by Palash Ghosh of ''International Business Times'':
⚫ <blockquote>
⚫ (...) the illegal mass-theft of cattle is a huge problem thousands of miles away from the Chisum Trail – on the border between India and Bangladesh. Along the largely porous boundary between Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, cattle-raids and cattle-smuggling, often conducted by criminal gangs, raise hundreds of millions of dollars annually in illicit profits. The activity is so lucrative and dangerous that it often costs the lives of the perpetrators and innocent bystanders. (...) Bimal Pramanik, an independent researcher in Kolkata, told the Monitor that Bangladesh has an insatiable demand for beef. 'Bangladeshi slaughterhouses cannot source even 1 million cows from within the country. If Indian cows do not reach the Bangladeshi slaughterhouses, there will be a big crisis there,' he said, adding that he estimates three-fourths of all cows slaughtered in Bangladesh originated in India. In this thriving trade, cows worth 50 billion rupees are sent across to Bangladesh every year. (...);<ref>, Palash Ghosh, The International Business Times (02-04-2014)</ref>
⚫ </blockquote>


According to ''The New York Times'', organized mafia gangs pick up the cattle they can find and sell them to illegal slaughterhouses. These crimes are locally called "cattle rustling" or "cattle lifting".<ref name=nytimes2013>, Gardiner Harris (MAY 26, 2013), The New York Times</ref> According to media reports, India has numerous illegal slaughterhouses. For example, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, the officials in 2013 reported over 3,000 illegal slaughterhouses.<ref name=nytimes2013/> According to Nanditha Krishna, there are an estimated 30,000 such illegal slaughter sites in India, typically operating in filthy conditions.<ref name=krishna116>{{cite book|author=Nanditha Krishna|title=Sacred Animals of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DF_af8_547EC&pg=PT116| year=2014|publisher= Penguin |isbn= 978-81-8475-182-6|page=116}}</ref><ref name=petahindu>, The Hindu (April 1 2017)</ref> According to ''The New York Times'', organized mafia gangs pick up the cattle they can find and sell them to illegal slaughterhouses. These crimes are locally called "cattle rustling" or "cattle lifting".<ref name=nytimes2013>, Gardiner Harris (MAY 26, 2013), The New York Times</ref> According to media reports, India has numerous illegal slaughterhouses. For example, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, the officials in 2013 reported over 3,000 illegal slaughterhouses.<ref name=nytimes2013/> According to Nanditha Krishna, there are an estimated 30,000 such illegal slaughter sites in India, typically operating in filthy conditions.<ref name=krishna116>{{cite book|author=Nanditha Krishna|title=Sacred Animals of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DF_af8_547EC&pg=PT116| year=2014|publisher= Penguin |isbn= 978-81-8475-182-6|page=116}}</ref><ref name=petahindu>, The Hindu (April 1 2017)</ref>
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Government authorities and local residents in areas surrounding Bangladesh have stated that frequent cattle-smuggling across the border from India is causing an increase in cattle theft."<ref>, The Dawn, AFP (2014), Quote: "''''Cattle stealing''' for smuggling across the border into Bangladesh is a common problem in the area, according to authorities."</ref><ref>, The Tribune, Bijay Sankar Bora (2016), Quote: "Rampant smuggling to Bangladesh had triggered cattle theft in many parts of the state, especially in eastern Assam where bullock are hardly used for ploughing anymore because of mechanisation of farming."</ref>{{efn-ua|People living in the border areas in Dhubri district complained that unabated smuggling of cattle resulted in cattle theft."'<ref>, The Telegraph, Sumir Karmakar (2011)</ref>}}{{efn-ua|The villagers said that the cow thefts in the region increase before and during Ramzan and that the bovines might have been being smuggled across the border which is just 7 km away. “The cow thefts spike before and during Ramzan. The cattle are easily smuggled across through Bangladesh through river and under the barbed wire,” said local resident Rajesh Roy.<ref>, The New Indian Express, Aishik Chanda (2017)</ref>}} Government authorities and local residents in areas surrounding Bangladesh have stated that frequent cattle-smuggling across the border from India is causing an increase in cattle theft."<ref>, The Dawn, AFP (2014), Quote: "''''Cattle stealing''' for smuggling across the border into Bangladesh is a common problem in the area, according to authorities."</ref><ref>, The Tribune, Bijay Sankar Bora (2016), Quote: "Rampant smuggling to Bangladesh had triggered cattle theft in many parts of the state, especially in eastern Assam where bullock are hardly used for ploughing anymore because of mechanisation of farming."</ref>{{efn-ua|People living in the border areas in Dhubri district complained that unabated smuggling of cattle resulted in cattle theft."'<ref>, The Telegraph, Sumir Karmakar (2011)</ref>}}{{efn-ua|The villagers said that the cow thefts in the region increase before and during Ramzan and that the bovines might have been being smuggled across the border which is just 7 km away. “The cow thefts spike before and during Ramzan. The cattle are easily smuggled across through Bangladesh through river and under the barbed wire,” said local resident Rajesh Roy.<ref>, The New Indian Express, Aishik Chanda (2017)</ref>}}

Hundreds of thousands of cows, states the British newspaper ''The Independent'' in a 2012 article, are illegally smuggled from India into Bangladesh every year to be slaughtered.<ref name=buncombe2012/> Gangs from both sides of the border are involved in this illegal smuggling involving an estimated 1.5 million (15 lakhs) cattle a year, and cattle theft is a source of the supply, states Andrew Buncombe.<ref name=buncombe2012>{{cite web | last=Buncombe | first=Andrew | title=Nothing's sacred: the illegal trade in India's holy cows | website=The Independent | date=2012-06-01 | url=http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/nothings-sacred-the-illegal-trade-in-indias-holy-cows-7808483.html | access-date=2017-06-27}}</ref> According to a 2014 report by ''The International Business Times'', criminal gangs steal and smuggle cattle from India into Bangladesh, an operation that yields them "hundreds of millions of dollars annually in illicit profits". Not only it hurts the cattle owners, the activity is dangerous as it leads to deaths of the "perpetrators and innocent bystanders", states Palash Ghosh.<ref name=ibtimes2014>, Palash Ghosh, The International Business Times (02-04-2014)</ref> According to a 2014 report by Palash Ghosh of ''International Business Times'':
⚫ <blockquote>
⚫ (...) the illegal mass-theft of cattle is a huge problem thousands of miles away from the Chisum Trail – on the border between India and Bangladesh. Along the largely porous boundary between Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, cattle-raids and cattle-smuggling, often conducted by criminal gangs, raise hundreds of millions of dollars annually in illicit profits. The activity is so lucrative and dangerous that it often costs the lives of the perpetrators and innocent bystanders. (...) Bimal Pramanik, an independent researcher in Kolkata, told the Monitor that Bangladesh has an insatiable demand for beef. 'Bangladeshi slaughterhouses cannot source even 1 million cows from within the country. If Indian cows do not reach the Bangladeshi slaughterhouses, there will be a big crisis there,' he said, adding that he estimates three-fourths of all cows slaughtered in Bangladesh originated in India. In this thriving trade, cows worth 50 billion rupees are sent across to Bangladesh every year. (...);<ref>, Palash Ghosh, The International Business Times (02-04-2014)</ref>
⚫ </blockquote>


==Incidents== ==Incidents==

Revision as of 13:36, 19 August 2017

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. (July 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Cattle theft, more commonly, cattle raiding, or cattle lifting is a property crime in India. It was an ancient royal ritual, an act of war among pastoral peoples, a traditional form of protection of livelihood and defense of community honour, and a colonial- and postcolonial era crime.

According to David Gilmartin, the crime of cattle theft was perceived by the colonial era British officials are "potential political danger" that threatened "to corrupt the whole structure of the administration, for its pervasiveness threatened to undercut the position of the state as the protector and legal guarantor of the individual as a productive owner of revenue-producing property". In contemporary times, the demand for meat has led to cattle becoming a target of mass-theft. According to The New York Times and other sources, cattle theft for beef production is a lucrative business in India.

India has over 30,000 illegal slaughterhouses that operate in filthy conditions. According to The New York Times, cattle theft is partly a source of supplies to illegal slaughterhouses.

Mythology, rituals and texts

Ancient myths in India such as those found in the Vedas mention cattle raiding, where it is described in terms of cosmogonic significance. These cow-theft myths trigger war and a cycle of retaliations such as in the story of Parashurama, a warrior Brahmin avatar of Hindu god Vishnu, who kills numerous Kashatriyas (warrior caste) after the theft of his father's mythical cow by the king. In the Ramayana, states Alf Hiltebeitel, a myth speaks of the sins of "murdering children, sages and cows" leading to war, migration of communities and social upheavel. The story, states Hiltebeitel, not only condemns the murder of a sage and the theft of a cow, but also extends its analogy between calves and children.

Cattle are mentioned in the Vedas more often than any other animals. Cattle raiding, states Burjor Avari, was an ancient royal ritual in India. In the Rigveda, the term Gavisti is mentioned in the context of conflict or battle, and this may be related to cattle raids state Macdonell and Keith. The penalty for injuring a bull was ten cows, according to Calvin Schwabe, for the theft of a cow, death.

History

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David Gilmartin states that "cattle were among the most ubiquitous and important forms of moveable property in India, and cattle stealing was among the most prevalent crimes in northern India during the colonial period" in the 19th century. However, adds Gilmartin, cattle thefts in India were "marked by contradictions" with many village and clan chiefs involved in cattle theft networks and shared in the profits in western Punjab. These were recognized by the colonial government as "key administrative intermediaries". The crime came to be known as "cattle lifting" (like shop lifting), and it was practiced by thieves, by organized mafia and by armies during conquest. Cattle theft were a source of riots and civil disturbances. Hundreds of riots erupted in colonial India over cow slaughter. The village "muqaddam" (chiefs) pursued peace in the village, and British administrators added laws aimed at preventing cattle theft.

According to Ramnarayan Rawat, a professor of South Asian History, cattle theft (or languri) was the "most widely reported crime investigated by the Uttar Pradesh police in the 1880s and 1890s, and was considered the most organized and widespread agricultural crime because cows were regarded as the most valuable animal in Indian society." The convicted cattle thieves were from various Hindu castes such as Thakurs, Ahirs, Gujars, Kurmis, Brahmins, Chamars, as well as Muslims. During this period and through the early part of 20th-century, the British administration routinely accused Chamars (untouchables, Hindus) of large-scale cattle deaths by poisoning and of theft for the purposes of obtaining skins for leather trade. According to Rawat, these accusations were "standard bureaucratic response" that continued after the British rule ended.

In 1930, an elderly Hindu woman alleged that Bengali Muslims had stolen her bullock, for sacrifice during the Islamic festival of Bakri-Id, when she saw her bullock in the Digboi market place. Hindus with sticks and Muslims with stones collected, triggering waves of riots in this part of Assam, accompanied by looting and killings.

According to David H. Bayley, a professor of Criminal Justice, the crime of "cattle theft is a matter of deadly seriousness in India," because it is an agrarian society where "many people live on the cheerless threshold of starvation". Cattle, states Bayley, are as important as children and grown adults "weep bitterly over the loss of their stock". In 1963 alone, over 20,000 cases of cattle thefts and arrests were reported in India.

Contemporary situation

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

The above graphs show: (a) the amount of cattle theft in India per 100,000 people, also called the rate, during the years 1953–2015 (shown in colour seagreen) and (b) the share (as percentage) of cattle theft in total major (cognizable) crime during the same period (shown in colour orchid). The graphs are based on tables of statistics from NCRB reports 1953–2015, India.

According to Roshan Kishore, writing in Live Mint, analysis of data published by India's National Crime Records Bureau shows that the proportion of cattle theft in overall theft in India declined during the period 1990–2014 both in the number of incidents reported and the value of the property taken.

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

The above graph shows the annual numbers of reported cattle theft in India during the years 1953–2015, also based on tables of statistics from NCRB reports 1953–2015, India.

A 2013 report by Gardiner Harris's in the Delhi Journal of The New York Times stated that cattle theft had increased in recent times in New Delhi, linked to an increase in the consumption of meat among Indians. The meat was primarily chicken, but included beef. Harris argued that cattle were left free to roam the streets, making them easy targets. According to The Hindu newspaper, analysis of data published by India's National Sample Survey 2016 shows that less than one per cent of Hindus in the Hindi belt consume beef or buffalo meat. Over the ten year period, 1999-2000 to 2011-2012, the consumption of beef or buffalo meat by Hindus in India declined from 19 million to 12.5 million.

According to a 2014 report by Palash Ghosh of International Business Times:

(...) the illegal mass-theft of cattle is a huge problem thousands of miles away from the Chisum Trail – on the border between India and Bangladesh. Along the largely porous boundary between Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, cattle-raids and cattle-smuggling, often conducted by criminal gangs, raise hundreds of millions of dollars annually in illicit profits. The activity is so lucrative and dangerous that it often costs the lives of the perpetrators and innocent bystanders. (...) Bimal Pramanik, an independent researcher in Kolkata, told the Monitor that Bangladesh has an insatiable demand for beef. 'Bangladeshi slaughterhouses cannot source even 1 million cows from within the country. If Indian cows do not reach the Bangladeshi slaughterhouses, there will be a big crisis there,' he said, adding that he estimates three-fourths of all cows slaughtered in Bangladesh originated in India. In this thriving trade, cows worth 50 billion rupees are sent across to Bangladesh every year. (...);

According to The New York Times, organized mafia gangs pick up the cattle they can find and sell them to illegal slaughterhouses. These crimes are locally called "cattle rustling" or "cattle lifting". According to media reports, India has numerous illegal slaughterhouses. For example, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, the officials in 2013 reported over 3,000 illegal slaughterhouses. According to Nanditha Krishna, there are an estimated 30,000 such illegal slaughter sites in India, typically operating in filthy conditions.

The theft of cattle for slaughter and beef production is economically attractive to the mafias in India. In 2013, states Gardiner Harris, a truck can fit 10 cows, each fetching about 5,000 rupees (about US$ 94 in 2013), or over US$900 per cattle stealing night operation. In a country where some 800 million people live on less than US$2 per day, such theft-based mafia operations are financially attractive. According to Andrew Buncombe, when smuggled across the border, the price per cattle increases nearly threefold and the crime is even more attractive financially. Many states have reported rising thefts of cattle and associated violence, according to The Indian Express.

Smuggling into Bangladesh

Government authorities and local residents in areas surrounding Bangladesh have stated that frequent cattle-smuggling across the border from India is causing an increase in cattle theft."

Incidents

  • In November 2015, a man in Manipur was spotted by locals walking with a missing calf. They accused him of theft and lynched him.
  • In Uttar Pradesh, four people were arrested after they threw away bovine carcass and confessed to stealing and slaughtering of cattle.
  • In March 2016, villagers near Nagpur (Maharashtra) reported 60 thefts of cattle within a year. The cattle owners alleged that gangs were behind the theft and they were selling the stolen cattle to slaughterhouses.
  • In January 2017, villagers in Karnataka chased a truck carrying stolen cattle, caught two cattle thieves and handed them over to police. The truck toppled over, killing one of the cows inside the truck.
  • Riots broke out in Gujarat when local people discovered a partially decomposed calf head near a road side butcher shop.
  • In West Bengal, according to a June 2017 Indian Express report, villagers of Durgapur showed "copies of nearly two dozen police complaints of cow thefts", then claimed that the police asked them to take care of such “petty matters” themselves. Further poor farmers complained of economic calamity from the thefts and a willingness to beat anybody they catch with stolen cattle. In northern region of the state, a gang of about 10 men came in a van in an alleged attempt in a village to steal cows, and a few of them were shot dead after they had entered a cowshed and had already taken cows from two homes.
  • In Assam, two Muslim teenagers were killed, after they were caught untying two cows in a pasture and then suspected of trying to steal those cows. According to The Financial Express, cow smugglers use cruel methods such as dumping them in fast flowing rivers to transport cows into Bangladesh.
  • In Uttar Pradesh, three suspects were caught stealing a buffalo by villagers and beaten up according to a April 2017 report. In June 2017, a farmer was killed by a gang of cattle thieves near Agra at night when the farmer protested.
  • Thieves were caught on a CCTV stealing a cow in Gujarat from the street by shoving it into a hatchback in October 2016. The car and the gang was later located, but cow was gone.
  • In Delhi, a 5-member gang was arrested on charges of cattle theft after tip off and surveillance in July 2017. The police accused the gang of "sedating the cattle, piling more than 10 of them in one vehicle, filling the edge of the vehicle with stones and making two people stand at the back to mislead the police", and they shot at the police when challenged. A cattle theft gang was caught with illegal weapons and was reported to have been involved in over 100 cattle cases.

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. "There were many royal rituals in ancient India. They involved such activities as cattle raids, ..."
  2. "in dry arid deserts like the Thar it would have been moveable wealth that was more desirable than control over unproductive land. The looting of cattle was a form of warfare, locally addressed as dhads, involving rival Rajput groups and had been used to augment cattle wealth as well as to settle social and political disputes."
  3. "David Gilmartin has demonstrated that in nineteenth century Punjab cattle stealing was undertaken by young men to show their prowess. It was a practice associated with protection of clan livelihood as well as clan honour. Village headmen as well as clan chiefs along with rassagirs extended protection to networks of cattle theft," I would argue that in the Thar, the ability to carry out such thefts was closely associated with the ability to resolve disputes.
  4. "Far more important for British officials in (p 36) the nineteenth century, however, were the connections between cattle raiding and the solidarity of local communities. Particularly among pastoral and semi-pastoral groups in the Punjab on the fringes of agricultural settlement, cattle stealing had long involved the competitive raiding of community grazing grounds, and was, as some British officials suggested, a practice associated with the protection of clan livelihood and the defense of community honour. Physically undertaken largely by young men, 'who show off their prowess by lifting the finest animals they hear of', cattle stealing was viewed by many local leaders as far from criminal.
  5. "(Preface:)Cattle theft was a common crime in British India, and yet one marked by contradictions. While the protection of property was for many a defining feature of the modern state, colonial administrators were often loath to interfere in the negotiations by which Indians commonly arranged the return of stolen cattle. ... (p. 35) Cattle and buffaloes (which were often lumped together in official discussions of this crime) were critical to the practice of agriculture in much of north India, particularly in those areas where animal power was needed to operate wells for irrigation. British officials thus recognised early on the importance of cattle ownership as a critical adjunct of the establishment of a productive agricultural economy, and of clear, revenue-paying rights to land.
  6. People living in the border areas in Dhubri district complained that unabated smuggling of cattle resulted in cattle theft."'
  7. The villagers said that the cow thefts in the region increase before and during Ramzan and that the bovines might have been being smuggled across the border which is just 7 km away. “The cow thefts spike before and during Ramzan. The cattle are easily smuggled across through Bangladesh through river and under the barbed wire,” said local resident Rajesh Roy.

Citations

  1. David H. Bayley (2015). Police and Political Development in India. Princeton University Press. p. 105. ISBN 978-1-4008-7849-9., Quote: "Referring to 1963, among cognizable offenses the most common form of crime was theft (33.2 percent of all cognizable crime). The next most prevalent was housebreaking (20.8 percent), followed by rioting (4.27 percent), cattle theft (3.57 percent), criminal breach of trust (2.8 percent), murder (1.63 percent), (...)."
  2. National Crime Records Bureau, Table 8.4, Crime in India 2015, Government of India
  3. Delhi police arrest 5 for cattle theft, illegal slaughter; seize illegal weapons, ANI, Deccan Chronicle (Jul 3, 2017)
  4. ^ Avari, Burjor (2016), India: The Ancient Past: A History of the Indian Subcontinent from c. 7000 BCE to CE 1200, Routledge, pp. 106–, ISBN 978-1-317-23672-6
  5. ^ Kothiyal, Tanuja (14 March 2016), Nomadic Narratives: A History of Mobility and Identity in the Great Indian Desert, Cambridge University Press, pp. 109–, ISBN 978-1-107-08031-7
  6. Gilmartin, David (2003), "Cattle, crime and colonialism: Property as negotiation in north India", The Indian Economic & Social History Review, 40 (1): 33–56 {{citation}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |journal= (help)
  7. Gilmartin, David (2003), "Cattle, crime and colonialism: Property as negotiation in north India", The Indian Economic & Social History Review, 40 (1): 38 {{citation}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |journal= (help)
  8. Cattle Smuggling: A Dangerous, Illegal And Highly Profitable Trade Between India And Bangladesh, Palash Ghosh, The International Business Times (02-04-2014), Quote: "(...) the illegal mass-theft of cattle is a huge problem thousands of miles away from the Chisum Trail – on the border between India and Bangladesh. Along the largely porous boundary between Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, cattle-raids and cattle-smuggling, often conducted by criminal gangs, raise hundreds of millions of dollars annually in illicit profits. The activity is so lucrative and dangerous that it often costs the lives of the perpetrators and innocent bystanders. (...) Bimal Pramanik, an independent researcher in Kolkata, told the Monitor that Bangladesh has an insatiable demand for beef. “Bangladeshi slaughterhouses cannot source even 1 million cows from within the country. If Indian cows do not reach the Bangladeshi slaughterhouses, there will be a big crisis there,” he said, adding that he estimates three-fourths of all cows slaughtered in Bangladesh originated in India. “In this thriving trade, cows worth 50 billion rupees are sent across to Bangladesh every year. It’s the sheer economics of the trade that drives the smuggling,” Pramanik added."
  9. For New Breed of Rustlers, Nothing Is Sacred, Gardiner Harris (MAY 26, 2013), The New York Times, Quote: "Cattle rustling, called 'lifting' here, is a growing scourge in New Delhi, as increasingly affluent Indians develop a taste for meat, even the flesh of cows, which are considered sacred in Hinduism. Criminals round up some of the roughly 40,000 cattle that wander the streets of this megacity and sell them to illegal slaughterhouses located in villages not far away. (...) 'These gangs mostly go after stray cattle, but they will also steal motocycles and scooters'. one police officer, Bhisham Singh, said in an interview. 'They kidnapped a woman recently and gang-raped her'."
  10. ^ For New Breed of Rustlers, Nothing Is Sacred, Gardiner Harris (MAY 26, 2013), The New York Times
  11. ^ Buncombe, Andrew (2012-06-01). "Nothing's sacred: the illegal trade in India's holy cows". The Independent. Retrieved 2017-06-27.
  12. Cattle Smuggling: A Dangerous, Illegal And Highly Profitable Trade Between India And Bangladesh, Palash Ghosh, The International Business Times (02-04-2014)
  13. ^ Nanditha Krishna (2014). Sacred Animals of India. Penguin. p. 116. ISBN 978-81-8475-182-6.
  14. ^ PETA asks for illegal slaughterhouses’ closure, The Hindu (April 1 2017)
  15. For New Breed of Rustlers, Nothing Is Sacred, Gardiner Harris (May 26, 2013), The New York Times, Quote: "Cattle rustling, called “lifting” here, is a growing scourge in New Delhi, as increasingly affluent Indians develop a taste for meat, even the flesh of cows, which are considered sacred in Hinduism. Criminals round up some of the roughly 40,000 cattle that wander the streets of this megacity and sell them to illegal slaughterhouses located in villages not far away."
  16. David Gilmartin (2003), Cattle, crime and colonialism: Property as negotiation in north India, The Indian Economic & Social History Review, Volume 40, Issue 1, pages 35-37
  17. ^ Alf Hiltebeitel (2009). Rethinking India's Oral and Classical Epics. University of Chicago Press. pp. 460–462, with footnotes 76–78. ISBN 978-0-226-34055-5.
  18. James G. Lochtefeld (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: N-Z. The Rosen Publishing Group. pp. 500–501. ISBN 978-0-8239-3180-4.
  19. Cornelia Dimmitt (2012). Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the Sanskrit Puranas. Temple University Press. pp. 82–85. ISBN 978-1-4399-0464-0.
  20. Arthur Anthony Macdonell; Arthur Berriedale Keith (1995). Vedic Index of Names and Subjects. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 223. ISBN 978-81-208-1332-8.
  21. Calvin W. Schwabe (1978). Cattle, Priests, and Progress in Medicine. University of Minnesota Press. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-8166-5867-1.
  22. David Gilmartin (2003), Cattle, crime and colonialism: Property as negotiation in north India, The Indian Economic & Social History Review, Volume 40, Issue 1, pages 33-56
  23. David Gilmartin (2003), Cattle, crime and colonialism: Property as negotiation in north India, The Indian Economic & Social History Review, Volume 40, Issue 1, pages 33-56, Quote: "(...) 'The heads of villages and even the chiefs of clans,' the British reported, 'connive at the practice, and participate in the profits.’ In the late nineteenth century almost all the leading men of the pastoral bar, the arid interfluvial tracts of the western Punjab, including many of those recognised as key administrative intermediaries by the British, were rassagirs-men who protected networks of cattle theft."
  24. Rosanna Masiola; Renato Tomei (2015). Law, Language and Translation: From Concepts to Conflicts. Springer. pp. 45–46. ISBN 978-3-319-14271-5.
  25. Ranajit Guha (1999). Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial India. Duke University Press. pp. 151–156. ISBN 978-0-8223-2348-8.
  26. Donald Eugene Smith (2015). South Asian Politics and Religion. Princeton University Press. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-4008-7908-3.; Quote: "In undivided India hundreds of communal riots erupted over the killing of a cow by a Muslim or the passing of a noisy Hindu procession in front of a mosque."
  27. Anand Pandian (2009). Crooked Stalks: Cultivating Virtue in South India. Duke University Press. pp. 107–110. ISBN 0-8223-9101-5., Quote: "Almost one-third of the charge sheets filed by a special party mobilized against Kallar cattle thieves in 1908, for example, were registered as pending because the accused had fled. Failure to detect and deter this class of 'most irritating and almost disastrous' crimes was cited as a principal rationale for the application of the Criminal Tribes Act to the Piramalai Kallars as a whole in 1918."
  28. B. B. Chaudhuri (2008). Peasant History of Late Pre-colonial and Colonial India. Pearson. pp. 159 note 31. ISBN 978-81-317-1688-5., Quote: "a muqaddam had to look after maintenance of peace in the village, settlement of assorted disputes, prevention of crimes including cattle lifting,..."
  29. David Gilmartin (2003), Cattle, crime and colonialism: Property as negotiation in north India, The Indian Economic & Social History Review, Volume 40, Issue 1, pages 42-43, Quote: "(...) thefts were thus often reported to the police and tracking evidence brought into court. The Punjab Laws Act of 1872 specifically gave the government the power to impose collective fines when tracks led to suspect villages, largely as a form of pressure to gain evidence against suspects."
  30. Ramnarayan S. Rawat (2011). Reconsidering Untouchability: Chamars and Dalit History in North India. Indiana University Press. pp. 44–45. ISBN 0-253-22262-1.
  31. Ramnarayan S. Rawat (2011). Reconsidering Untouchability: Chamars and Dalit History in North India. Indiana University Press. pp. 24–45. ISBN 0-253-22262-1.
  32. Yasmin Saikia; Amit Baishya (2017). Northeast India: A Place of Relations. Cambridge University Press. pp. 125–126. ISBN 978-1-108-22578-6.
  33. ^ David H. Bayley (2015). Police and Political Development in India. Princeton University Press. p. 114. ISBN 978-1-4008-7849-9.
  34. Kishore, Roshan (October 14, 2015), How India steals, Live Mint Quote: "The share of cattle stolen has fallen both in terms of the number of incidents and the value of property during 1990-2014."
  35. For New Breed of Rustlers, Nothing Is Sacred, Gardiner Harris (MAY 26, 2013), The New York Times
  36. Rosanna Masiola; Renato Tomei (2015). Law, Language and Translation: From Concepts to Conflicts. Springer. pp. 43–46. ISBN 978-3-319-14271-5.
  37. The Hindu and India Datalabs (October 29, 2016), More Indians Eating Beef, Buffalo Meat, The Hindu Quote: "These findings come from National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data. Three rounds of the Household Consumption Expenditure survey of NSSO (51, 55 and 68), spanning a decade — including the latest one from 2011-12 — were analysed by The Hindu in collaboration with India Datalabs, based at the Observer Research Foundation."
  38. Cattle Smuggling: A Dangerous, Illegal And Highly Profitable Trade Between India And Bangladesh, Palash Ghosh, The International Business Times (02-04-2014)
  39. In Assam, mob fury and cattle thieves have a long history, Samudra Gupta Kashyap (May 2, 2017), The Indian Express
  40. Four men set ablaze in India for cattle rustling: police, The Dawn, AFP (2014), Quote: "'Cattle stealing for smuggling across the border into Bangladesh is a common problem in the area, according to authorities."
  41. Note ban hits cattle smuggling to B’desh, The Tribune, Bijay Sankar Bora (2016), Quote: "Rampant smuggling to Bangladesh had triggered cattle theft in many parts of the state, especially in eastern Assam where bullock are hardly used for ploughing anymore because of mechanisation of farming."
  42. Bangla profits up cattle smuggling, The Telegraph, Sumir Karmakar (2011)
  43. Vigil for cow thieves led to brutal killing of three Muslim youths in Bengal ahead of Eid, The New Indian Express, Aishik Chanda (2017)
  44. Headmaster lynched for ‘stealing cow’; shutdown call in Manipur, Rahul Karmakar, Hindustan Times (November 4 2015)
  45. Four held for cattle slaughter in Sahibabad, The Indian Express (December 22, 2015)
  46. Cattle owners troubled by rampant animal theft, suspect a racket, The Times of India, Manka Behl, (Mar 17, 2016)
  47. Truck topples in Hunsur as thieves flee with stolen cattle, The New Indian Express (22nd January 2017)
  48. Riots in Surat after calf head found on road, Yagnesh Mehta, The Times of India (Jan 30, 2017)
  49. Bengal lynching: If cattle thieves come again, we will catch them and beat them, The Indian Express (June 27, 2017)
  50. 3 killed in North Bengal for cattle theft bid, The Times of India (June 24 2017)
  51. Two Muslim Teenagers Killed in India Over Accusation of Cow Theft, Hari Kumar, The New York Times (May 1, 2017)
  52. How ‘Gau bhakshaks’ float cows from India to Bangladesh, The Financial Express (June 21 2017)
  53. 3 cattle thieves beaten in Mainpuri, Anuja Jaiswal, The Times of India (Apr 7, 2017)
  54. Farmer killed by cattle smuggler in Agra, The Times of India (July 1 2017)
  55. Cattle rustling, Indian style, The Daily Mail (13 October 2016)
  56. 5 members of Mewat-based gang held for cattle theft, The Hindu (July 4 2017)
  57. Delhi police arrest 5 for cattle theft, illegal slaughter; seize illegal weapons, The Deccan Chronicle (July 3 2017)
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