Cow Vigilantism as a Challenge Before Cow Protection Laws In India: A Critical Analysis

Responding to constitutional mandate and deep public expectations in India, laws have been enacted
by states to protect cows and promote its indigenous breeds. To satisfactorily achieve this objective, the
stringency of these laws has been continuously increased by many states. However, there has been a
recent rise in homicides or harassment related to cow protection in which some self-motivated groups
of people, who consider themselves committed to cow protection, have become intolerant i.e.
aggressive towards the minority Muslim and sometimes Dalit community. Such incidents are being
perceived as a major challenge to the legal measures for cow protection. A section of critics believes
that the increasing stringency of these laws is the main reason behind this extremism. So, the main
question is whether cow-vigilantism is a problem arising from the strictness of cow protection laws or
are there other reasons for it, such as increasing sensitivity of Hindu society towards cow protection or
increasing intolerance towards cow slaughter? Are reasons like the excessive greed of cow as well as
beef smugglers and the grave religious fanaticism of the Muslim community worth ignoring? The
present study attempts to analyze these interrelationships logically.