Patna: A man in Bihar was blinded after his repeated honking made a panic-stricken cow run away. The incident, which comes amid rising incidents of cow vigilantism, took place in eastern Bihar’s Saharsa district on the weekend.
Police said the driver identified as Ganesh Mandal was returning home in his van when he came across a cow roaming on a national highway. He honked in a bid to scare the animal away.
“Instead, the cow panicked and ran away, leaving the cow owner furious. In a fit of rage, he beat the driver with a baton badly damaging one of his eyes,” police said.
The assault was so brutal that the man fell unconscious.
The victim was soon rushed to a local government health centre from where he was referred to another hospital after he complained he has lost vision in his left eye.
“The patient was bleeding profusely when brought to the hospital. There is [a] possibility of the victim losing his vision although we have began his treatment,” an identified doctor was quoted as telling a local media.
The police have begun investigation although the case is yet to be registered. “The victim is being treated at a local hospital. Action will be taken once we record the statement of the victim,” a local police official Mohammad Izhar Alam said on Sunday.
The accused Ram Dular Yadav, however, denied his involvement in blinding of the car driver. “I was in fact milking the cow when the driver scared it by repeatedly honking the horn,” the accused told a local media.
