New Delhi (Sputnik) — The state of Haryana in northern India has adopted an unusual method of rehabilitating convicts – making them live together with cows.
"All the convicts and [prisoners standing trial] are our brothers and sisters. If they serve the cow, their impure minds will be cured," Bhani Ram Mangla, Chairman of the Cow Welfare Commission told Sputnik.
The Gau Sewa Aayog (Haryana) has been tasked with constructing barns in six prisons across the state. For this purpose, the state government has allocated $1.5 million to the commission. The work will commence next month.
Questions about cow shelters being located on large tracts of prison land, where wheat and other food is cultivated by the prisoners, were mooted by the state government.
"We have planned to open cow shelters in six prisons across the state – first in Karnal this year. We want to make the state-run cow shelters self-reliant; they are, presently, solely dependent on government funding. We will open bio-gas plants, sell cow urine, cow dung etc which will bring enough money to the commission," Mangla added.
Another member of the Cow Welfare Commission, Om Singh Chauhan, told Sputnik, "cow urine is a panacea for at least 48 types of ailments, from arthritis and asthma to cancer and diabetes."
After the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), which has ideological and organizational links to the Hindu nationalist outfit Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), came to power in 2014, fringe outfits have overtly engaged in cow protectionism. There have also been a few incidences where right-wing groups have allegedly killed individuals found in possession of beef.
