Either they are abandoned
or they are strays roaming around.
Muslims are harassed for no good reason.
They don’t have enough fodder to feed them, which is why they get rid of them.
Muslims are suffering, madam.
We hardly save any money. We cannot even recover the cost of sowing.
Even basic survival is difficult with this kind of income.
These so called cow protectors...
They don’t feed their cows. The cows live on the fields.
They milk the cows but do not take care of them.
We guard the fields so that the cows don’t enter.
We just saw 10 to 15 cows. They all went across to that other field.
Your hands are freezing.
They protect the cows.
Cows come...
in large numbers.
They enter the fields at night.
We have secured the field with fences but they break in somehow.
The fences must be quite high but still...
They are 5 feet high, but the cows are able to hop over.
They come in from under the fence too when they are really hungry.
Here are the fences that we have installed.
We have done all the necessary fencing work.
The cows manage to come in nonetheless.
So the cows hop over this high fence?
Yes, they do.
When they are hungry,
they hop over and sometimes also crawl underneath.
It is ironic that we speak of women safety and the protection of women,
but here the women have to do protection work themselves.
That is because this is their land, which is their only source of income.
They cannot leave it and go
and that is why they are protecting it.
Why else would someone guard farmland in this cold weather?
But their efforts are in vain. If they shoo the cows away,
they have to suffer the consequences.
They told us that the police will give them trouble if they shoo cows away.
Their property is being destroyed.
In spite of that, they cannot raise their voices.
Everything has to do with caste in Alwar.
There are more cows this year as compared to last year.
God knows who leaves their cows here.
I don’t know what to do.
-So, these are stray cows from the city? -Yes.
They come in large numbers.
We are suffering.
And if we say something...
They accuse us of making false complaints.
We pleaded with them.
We went from place to place pleading...
We requested them to at least feed their cows.
A little further from here,
there are some women keeping guard.
So, have you kept them on a daily wage or...
-The family members do it? -Yes, the women are members of the family.
We do not earn enough to hire outside help.
They come in herds. Sometimes 15 or 20 at a time.
All four of us have to scare them away.
Sometimes my mother goes alone.
She doesn’t wake us up. We all stay up awake the whole night.
My sister goes to school and I do household work.
So, my mom doesn’t wake us up and does the job herself.
They cross the fences also.
I come rarely as I do the household work.
My mom too does the same. Still, she stays awake at all night.
Sometimes, we have to scare off cows during the day as well.
Sometimes we ourselves get hurt from the fences, but still we have to shoo the cows away.
Do you stay here at night, Jasmine?
Yes.
Why do you have to stay here at night?
Because the cows eat up our crops.
We are bound to stay awake the whole night,
yet, they eat up our crops.
-And you cannot do anything about it? -Yes.
We stay up the whole night and yet they eat our crops.
Sometimes we light a fire and sit in the field.
Still, they eat up the crops.
And you can’t shoo them away with sticks?
I have tried everything. But they still come back.
A cow poked my daughter’s stomach with its horns.
-Your daughter’s? -Yes.
-At night? -Yes, when she was shooing them away,
a cow poked its horns in her stomach.
Either they are abandoned
or they are strays.
Muslims are harassed for no good reason.
They don’t have enough fodder for them, which is why they abandon them.
Muslims are suffering, madam.
Do we have any enmity with them?
Even we have cattle, why would we want to harm them?
We don't have any enemity with the cattle. We are forced to light fires and sleep in the jungle.
Can anybody do that?
They milk them and then abandon them.
Is that the case?
They destroy all the crops.
-Are they domesticated cows? -Yes, they are
They are domesticated.
These so called cow protectors...
They don’t feed their cows, which is why they feed on our crops.
They just milk them and abandon them.
We can't even drive them out.
If the police catches us doing trying to drive cows out, we will end up in trouble.
That is the problem.
The cows are a big nuisance... the cows and the bulls.
We were driving away the cows,
and two men stepped out from a car
and started questioning us, asking us what will we do with the cows?
They asked whether we were going to slaughter the cows.
We were shooing them away from our fields.
They are committing fraud in the name of cow shelters.
They starve the animals and make money by selling their bones and skin.
In fact, those who own the cow shelters are the real cow killers.
Please go and check out the situation there.
Cows are going skinny and are on the verge of death.
-In the cow ranches? -Yes.
Cow shelters are the deadliest places for cows.
We cannot recover the cost of tilling and sowing the land.
We can't survive on this low income.
We sowed the crop in.... in which month was Deepavali?
-In November. -Yes, we did the sowing then.
And now, go and see, there is nothing.
Our government has passed two laws.
One is the Cow Protection Act,
and the other is the Cattle Trespass Act,
which is for the stray cows and cattle.
We take no interest in the Trespass Act that pertains to stray animals,
but on the other hand, there is a huge fuss made about the Cow Protection Act.
There are two laws.
The aim of both laws was to remedy the problems caused by stray cattle and
also to prevent the smuggling of animal products.
We are very concerned about smuggling
but not bothered in the least about the menace posed by stray cattle.
Regarding that, the general attitude is that one should deal with the problem on one's own.
Trespassing does not happen in big cities
as there are gates and walls.
There is no chance of trespassing in cities.