The Tihar gaushala: Small facility, big questions

Imagine your house has a crumbling roof that is causing the whole structure to become unstable. Instead of fixing the roof, you spend a week designing a customized chimney. That’s the absurdity of the Tihar Gaushala initiative. This initiative, announced on November 20, 2025, to establish a cow shed inside Tihar Jail, is being proclaimed as a step in the direction of compassion and a “new ray of hope.” Yet, we have a massive, systemic collapse in both cattle welfare and prison mental health services. The grand solution is a beautifully-marketed, notably small, 20-cow Gaushala – a cosmetic fix for a crisis that requires a total structural overhaul.

Behind this smokescreen lies the festering issues of Delhi’s persistent stray cattle crisis and the alarming, understaffed state of the prison reform system. These issues have created deep and grave wounds, and a Gaushala touted to provide “cow therapy” can by no stretch address the maladies that run so deep.

Can a gaushala housing 20 cattle address Delhi’s “stray cattle” crisis?

Delhi has been grappling with a persistent and pervasive straying cattle crisis for over 2 decades. In 2002, the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi observed that the State and its agencies appear to be “impervious to the menace of stray cattle” and noted the lack of effective steps to prevent the cattle from taking to the roads. Today, the situation has further deteriorated. There are more than a lakh cattle straying in the National Capital after being abandoned by illegally operating dairy owners.

Set against this backdrop, statements by officials touting the Gaushala initiative at Tihar Jail, which can accommodate merely 20 cattle, as a “visionary step forward” echo alarming tokenism. This is especially the case given multiple reports state several of the cows at the Gaushala have reportedly been bought and are not those rescued or impounded from Delhi’s streets.

These claims are symptoms of misplaced priorities as evident from the fact that the existing gaushalas owned by the State are utterly mismanaged, unmonitored and underutilized. There are 5 plots of land under possession of the Gvt. of NCT of Delhi, allocated for the operation of Gaushalas. However, one of these plots, measuring 19 acres which could accommodate 4,142 cattle, has been lying deserted for the last 7 years. The plot of land, which was earlier home to Acharya Sushil Gosadan, currently is in a state of ruins. The real question is – why are public funds and significant resources being channeled towards a token facility which can house but 20 cattle when a government possessed land which can house thousands remains abandoned? Whose interest does the Tihar Gaushala initiative really serve?

Interactions with cows cannot be equated with therapeutic interventions

The Tihar Jail Gaushala is being hailed as a “major initiative to offer mental therapy for inmates” with the objective to alleviate the “loneliness and emotional stress”.

It is noteworthy that as per the ‘Prison Statistics India 2023 Report’ published by the National Crime Records Bureau, there is close to 25% staff vacancy in Delhi’s prisons. There are only 4 psychologists/psychiatrists, stretched thin across Delhi’s 16 jails.

In face of such acute staff shortages, it is highly unlikely that “Cow Therapy” at Tihar Jail will encompass the careful oversight of any trained psychologists/psychiatrists. Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) at its premises involves using structured and goal-oriented sessions with animals, to be administered by a formally trained professional. There is unequivocal consensus in the scientific community that AAT necessarily requires mental health professionals to be attuned to principles of the core therapeutic intervention(s) selected. Only experts with years of training can be positioned to help clients in a therapeutic set up.

For this reason, calling the random, unmonitored mingling of prison inmates and cows in a Tihar gaushala “Cow Therapy” is about as accurate as calling a pothole a swimming pool, an inspired feat of imagination, but a spectacular error all the same.

This approach will do little to effectively cater to the mental health of the inmates, and worse, can have deleterious effects by offering the illusion of therapy without delivering genuine help.

The animal safety risk posed by the gaushala at Tihar

Beyond the shortcomings posed by the Tihar Gaushala initiative in addressing the straying cattle crisis or prison reform gaps in Delhi, the model poses serious animal safety concerns.

A vast body of research, across a plethora of cultural contexts, consistently shows a strong correlation between cruelty to animals and interpersonal violence. A study by Northeastern University and the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, found that people who abuse animals are five times more likely to commit violent crimes against humans. Placing vulnerable cattle in the care of individuals convicted of violent crimes, especially in a space with inadequate supervision due to low staffing, creates an undeniable risk.

The Violence Graduation Hypothesis holds that individuals who cause harm to society through acts of violence, begin by testing ground on low-risk victims, typically – animals. Animal cruelty becomes a training ground for offenders to “graduate” their violence to higher-risk human victims. The paradox posed by the Tihar Gaushala is disconcerting – prison inmates could be at the risk of engaging in acts of cruelty towards the cows, setting in motion another cycle of violence and creating propensity for future violence, all under the garb of – therapy.

It is important to ask – who will ensure regular and sustained clinical oversight is provided in the “cow therapy” process, in a manner that safeguard the interests of the cattle, but also the inmates? This is paramount to ensure the inmates do not engage in any behavior that does not undertake any behavior that curtails their emotional growth or sets the stage for further violence. In a high-security facility already struggling with acute staff shortages, the Tihar Gaushala risks turning an act of tokenism into a hidden opportunity for animal abuse, undermining dignity for both human and animal life.

The Tihar Gaushala initiative is a classic case of tokenism being placed above effective policy undertakings, with cascading and adverse ramifications for all involved. As citizens interested in responsible governance, we must seek that public resources are channeled towards operationalizing the defunct but high-capacity Gaushala to address the straying cattle crisis. At the same time, we must seek staffing prisons with mental health professionals so initiatives can truly yield outcomes for inmates.

The Tihar Gaushala, is a small facility. But it raises a big question – is tokenism and symbolism, that hides decades of systemic neglect, more dangerous than inaction?

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