There was no mass slaughtering of cows in the Far West. Religious outfits exploited public sentiment to push their enveloped agendas.

-SUMITRA BHATTARAI: CIJ

Dev Bhul of Godavari VDC-5 in Kailali was arrested last week on the charge of cow slaughtering. Bhul, who owned the cow, was drunk when he struck the animal dead in a fit of rage on 26 July. The cow had made a mistake of entering the neighbors' field which upset its master

'My son is an alcoholic and has a bad temper because of which his wife left him few months back. There was no reason to kill that poor animal.', Dev's mother Tulsi Devi Bhul told CIJ.

The village of Bandrekhola has around four dozen houses, of which most families belong to hill caste groups. Tulsi Devi Bhul's family is the only Dalit family in the village.

Same day but in an unrelated incident, locals of Beladevipur in Dhangadi, who had gone to collect grass in the jungle saw an injured cow stuck in a ditch between Beli and Patela community forests. The villagers informed police and the cow was rescued, but died the next day while undergoing treatment at local veterinary hospital.

Things took an ugly turn when members of National Temples Coordination Committee, who had accompanied police to rescue the injured cow told local media they had seen many cows slaughtered and     buried in a mass grave inside the jungle.Within 24 hours, Hindu Rastra Struggle Committee took note of the incident and declared a shutdown throughout Far-Western region. Protest rallies were organized in several places on 1 August against 'mass slaughtering of cows'.

In Mahendranagar, the committee organized a protest rally, mobilizing even young children. Harkesh Bista of Hindu Swayam Sevek Sangh, one of the organizers in the committee told us, 'we have heard 9-10 cows have been slaughtered in Patela of Dhangadi.' Bista accused people from 'other religion' of slaughtering the cows. Kamal Thapa led Rastrya Prajatantra Party-Nepal issued a press statement on 1 August, condemning the mass cow slaughtering and demanded the guilty be booked.

However, when we talked to Surya Bahadur Chand of Nepal Police who has been investigating the case in Dhangadi, he told us, 'There was no mass slaughtering of cows. The only cow we found near the forest of Patela was injured. It is common for locals to dump their old and injured animals in the forests.'

Chand admits that the police had found some skeletons scattered around the forest area but believed they could be of animals, not necessarily cows, dying of disease or old age.

'It is worrying that media and locals have reacted to rumors and here says, instead of verifying the facts.', concludes Chand.

Five days later, the struggle committee continues to obstruct general life across the region, taking out rallies and demanding punishment for those responsible for the mass slaughtering.

'Last time such communal sentiments were stoked, there was a riot between Hindus and Muslims in the nearby Nepalgunj. We don't seem to have learned anything from it', lamented a local from Dhangadi.