NEW DELHI: Welcome to India, or more accurately in this case, Chhattisgarh, where goats -- yes goats -- are arrested, and in truly democratic style, granted bail. A goat was arrested in the state for raiding a senior bureaucrat's garden on Monday, and granted bail a day later. Its owner was also booked under charges that carry a two to seven year prison term and a fine.

The police arrested the goat -- whose name remains unknown -- and its owner, Abdul Hasan, in Korea, about 350 km from state capital Raipur, after the gardener of the District Magistrate, Hemant Ratre, complained.

The police took swift action, because the goat -- in their words, was a repeat offender. "The judge's bungalow has an iron gate and the goat used to jump over it and enter," said Assistant Sub Inspector R P Srivastava, as quoted in the media. “The peon who maintains the garden had warned the owner of the goat many times. So today he filed a complaint and we arrested the goat and its owner.”

The charge sheet against the goat includes grazing in the garden and eating plants and vegetables.

Abdul Hasan, who faces charges of criminal trespass and mischief causing damage along with his goat, is awaiting the court’s decision on the matter. Hasan was booked under IPC section 447 (criminal trespass) and 427 (mischief causing damage) based on the complaint of Judicial Magistrate (first class) H. Ratre on Monday, SHO Janakpur police station R.S. Paikra told PTI.

"My goat scaled the boundary wall again and ate flowers and vegetables from the garden. It was taken to the police station and then the police also brought me in," Hasan has been quoted as saying.

The SHO said that several warnings had been given to the goat, and its owner, but the incident kept happening. Hasan was on Tuesday produced before a court, which sent him to a two-day remand, the SHO said, as he refused bail.

The arrest of the goat may sound bizarre, but let’s not forget that this is India -- the same country where a parrot was arrested in Chandrapur in Maharashtra in 2015 after an elderly woman complained that it was swearing at and verbally abusing her.

The parrot named Hariyal was owned by the complainant’s stepson, with the police again taking the complaint seriously enough to take action. Once detained, the parrot went quiet, showing no signs of his devious character. Quite the seasoned criminal, Hariyal.

Or take the time Indian authorities arrested a Pakistani “spy” pigeon… The pigeon, believed to have crossed over from Pakistan, was discovered by 14-year old boy in Pathankot, Punjab, some 4km from the India-Pakistan border.

The boy rushed to hand over the “spy” pigeon to police, who became suspicious after seeing a message in the Urdu language and numbers that police believed were part of a landline telephone number in Pakistan’s Narowal district.

The bird was sent to get x-rayed for more clues, but nothing more -- it seems -- was found. The Times of India quoted Pathankot senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rakesh Kaushal saying, “Nothing adverse has been found, but we have kept the bird in our custody.” “This is a rare instance of a bird from Pakistan being spotted here. We have caught a few spies here. The area is sensitive, given its proximity to Jammu, where infiltration is quite common,” he added.

Although it should be a matter of reassurance for Indian security forces that despite technological advances, Pakistan’s choice of spy mode is a pigeon -- the incident placed India as the butt of jokes amongst Pakistani social media users.





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YASH SHARMA