The moral dilemma on a dead cow

India is a country which holds its cows in high esteem; the irony being that we are (or should it be were?) one of the largest exporters of beef in the world. The recent ban on beef in Maharashtra did bring in a lot of comments for and against of the decision but one question that truly remained unanswered was the upkeep of he cows when they are not productive enough or when it is financially not viable to keep them.

A solution that was put forward was by some organisations(cow caring ones i suppose) was to make retirement homes for the bovine and all of their brethren and take them in with crowd-funding( i am pretty sure the funding does have a lot of influences into them) and see them off till death creeps in. 

But this topic is not about them, this one has a lot of discourse that i am not willing to get into right now.

I, personally do not want to interfere as what another persons beliefs or eating habits are and hence shall not go into that discourse.

Now, a fortnight back i happened to take a winger (Derived from the Tata Winger and called thus) on a highway that is flanked by the railway track on one side and Tea estates on the other. A pretty scene here in Assam that any person shall truly appreciate. The usual speed on the highway here remains at about 70km/hr for vehicles of these kinds. The drivers on them are usually employees of the vehicle owner and hence remain cautious of damaging the vehicle, cosmetically at least, their driving habits are questionable too.

As we were progressing from West to East, a train was on its track in the opposite direction. As it happened, a herd was grazing right alongside the tracks where there was a little grass, and some were on the tracks itself. The pilot on the train honked out loud to alert the cows; and scared they were. The cows suddenly jumped onto the road and the driver of the winger did not have time to react to this sudden movement. As it happened, the winder hit one of the cows in the head. The driver, scared as he was, did not stop the vehicle fearing a backlash and drove away.

I can surely say he was pretty much shocked. When he drove for about two kilometres, he stopped to assess the damage to his vehicle which included a damaged bumper and a broken headlamp assembly.

So the question now that remains is; who is responsible; putting down my three suspects, hope you give a solution,

1. The train pilot, as had he not sounded the horn, the cows were dead anyway.
2. The winger driver, who did not get a chance to react to it.
3. The person(s) who own the responsibility for the cow, for its upkeep, survival and harvesting(of milk mostly) as a stake on the cow might have saved it had there been a pasture to feed in.