An Indian political activist has been arrested for “organising a cow urine consumption event and compelling a civic volunteer to drink cow urine”, to combat Covid-19, Kolkata police chief, Anuj Sharma, told AFP.
Last week, a number of Hindu activists held a cow urine party in the capital, New Delhi, in order to fight Covid-19.
A milk trader in the same state was arrested on Tuesday for selling cow urine and dung and claiming they “would keep the novel coronavirus at bay”, according to India Today.
Sheikh Masud was selling cow urine at 500 Indian rupees (€6.18) per litre and cow dung at 400 rupees (€4.93/kg).
Drinking cow urine
Many in the Hindu-majority nation consider cows sacred and believe drinking cow urine is a remedy for all manner of ailments including arthritis, asthma, cancer and diabetes.
An MP from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Suman Haripriya, told BBC News hey could be used against the coronavirus. “Cow dung has many benefits. I think it can kill the coronavirus. Cow urine can also be useful.”
There have been previous studies on the potential anti-bacterial properties of cow urine. Dr Shailendra Saxena, of the Indian Virological Society, told BBC News: “There is no medical evidence to show that cow urine has anti-viral characteristics.”
“Moreover, using cow-dung could prove counter-productive, as bovine faecal matter could contain a coronavirus which might replicate in humans.”
Video and image source: South China Morning Post via Youtube
