In what could be perceived to be a case of cow vigilantism, the driver of a pick-up van was mercilessly beaten up simply because a cow got scared after he honked the horn of the vehicle.
The incident took place on National Highway (NH) 107, some 250 kms from the state captial, when the driver Ganesh Mandal was returning to his native place Bhagalpur from Saharsa.
The driver, who sustained serious injuries, has been admitted to the nearby hospital but is reported to have lost sight in the left eye.
According to sources, Mandal, a native of Gopalpur in Bhagalpur, was returning home when he had to stop his pick-up van as a cow was roaming on NH 107. He honked the horn so that the cow could make way for the vehicle. But lo and behold, the bovine panicked and ran away. This infuriated the owner of the cow Ram Dular Yadav, who, along with other locals, not only mercilessly thrashed Mandal but rained lathi blows on him.
“Mandal became unconscious after being hit on the left eye. He was immediately shifted to the nearby public health centre (PHC). However, since he was bleeding profusely, and complaining of losing sight of the left eye, he was shifted to Saharsa Government hospital,” said Md Izhar Alam, the local station house officer (SHO).
“When Mandal gained consciousness, he complained of losing sight of the left eye. Since the pateint was bleeding and sustained grievous injuries in the left eye, the possibility of losing vision was not ruled out,” said the doctor attending him at Saharsa.
Meanwhile, since the Saharsa Civil Surgeon AK Singh was not in the district, it was decided to shift Mandal to Bhagalpur for better treatment there.
In the meantime, a case was registered against Yadav, who, however, insisted that the cow was not roaming on NH but admitted that the bovine got scared after Mandal constantly honked his horn.
