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Food

An Indian State Is Now Keeping Mugshots of the Area’s Cows

The police department of a mid-sized Indian city will soon boast quite a collection of images of handsome bulls and shapely cows. Maybe officers there are trying to start a local offshoot of Tinder for horny cows.

In the ongoing saga of an Indian ban on the sale and consumption of beef in the western state of Maharashtra, one city in the area is now reportedly requiring cow owners to submit photos of their bovines. Police in Malegaon say they'll reference the photos in the event a criminal case pops up, but it's unclear exactly how, or what kinds of crime police are referring to.

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As reported yesterday by the Times of India, all cow and bull owners in the township have been asked to photograph each and every one of their animals, then turn those photos over to local law enforcement. Because the beef trade is now fully illegal in Maharashtra, the photos could presumably be used to identify cows who are sold or slaughtered.

"The purpose is to carry out a census and keep a record," Mahesh Sawai, the deputy superintendent of police, told the Times. "Besides, this will help to verify matters if someone feeds us wrong information about pet animals or animals working in the field," he said, referencing the Hindu ban on putting cows to work (bulls and oxen, however, are allowed to toil).

But Malegaon residents aren't too keen on the idea of having to provide a photographic inventory of their flocks—perhaps at least in part because the injunction is somewhat unclear.

"Cops are asking for photos of animals when there is no law that says we should send them pictures," a local told the Times.

Late on Monday night, city police seized five cows on the assumption that their owner intended to sell them, though the owner claimed he planned only to vend their milk. Such random seizures aren't sitting well with the local populace.

"The practice of seizing animals in this manner will result in a lot of discomfort in this town," the same resident said.

For now, all that's clear is that the police department of a mid-sized Indian city will soon boast quite a collection of images of handsome bulls and shapely cows. Maybe officers there are trying to start a local offshoot of Tinder for horny cows.