Haryana: Fatal cow vigilante attack recalls several recent cases

Haryana Police have arrested five gau rakshaks (cow vigilantes) for kidnapping a truck driver and helper suspected of cow smuggling in Palwal over a week ago, and brutally assaulting the abductees, resulting in the death of helper Sandeep, a resident of Ganganagar in Rajasthan.

Palwal was also where Aryan Mishra, a 19-year-old student of an open school in Faridabad, was shot dead on 23 August 2024 by a group of individuals suspected to be cow vigilantes, who pursued him under the mistaken assumption that he was involved in cattle smuggling, according to the police. Five men were later arrested and placed in judicial custody.

The accused allegedly chased the SUV in which Mishra and his friends were travelling and opened fire, hitting Mishra twice, according to his father Siya Nand Mishra’s police complaint. Principal accused Anil Kaushik was found to be linked to an organisation called Live for Nation, which promotes cow protection.

In the present instance, the accused threw the driver and conductor into a canal, assuming both of them were dead, but driver Balkishan swam to safety and lodged an FIR. Sandeep's body was fished out of the canal in Gurugram’s Sohna on Sunday, 2 March, eight days after the incident.

The accused, once again associated with a cow protection group, assaulted the victims with sticks, swords and hammers, resulting in multiple fractures and stab injuries, a police officer told the the Hindu.

Sandeep's body was found nearly 15 km from where he was dumped, following a week-long combing operation, the officer said. Three of the accused — Pankaj, Nikhil, and Devraj — belong to Palwal and two more, Pawan and Naresh, are residents of Gurugram and Nuh respectively.

According to human rights movement Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), in a similar incident in 2024 in Nuh, members of the Rashtriya Bajrang Dal and Gau Raksha Dal intercepted a truck transporting cattle, claiming the animals were being smuggled for slaughter. The Muslim drivers were assaulted and publicly humiliated, with videos of the incident shared online to further intimidate the community.

CJP has compiled a list of similar incidents which occurred in November 2024 alone, saying rising cow vigilante violence from Haryana to Punjab targeted marginalised communities, with law enforcement officials accused of complicity.

Among the more publicised cases from Haryana was one involving Sabir Malik, a Muslim migrant worker from West Bengal working as a ragpicker in Charkhi Dadri district. Allegedly beaten to death by cow vigilantes, his horrifying end was purportedly filmed, and a video showing an apparent lynching was shared on social media, showing a large group of people beating the victim with sticks and rods.

The scourge is not limited to Haryana alone. Once again in late-August 2024, a video surfaced of an elderly man being harrassed and verbally abused by fellow passengers on a moving train in Maharashtra's Nashik district, on suspicion of carrying beef. The video, which again went viral on social media, showed a group of abusive individuals surrounding the elderly man, verbally abusing him and even issuing rape threats.

Despite numerous legal interventions and regulations aimed at curbing cow slaughter, incidents of vigilantism continue to occur. What started as isolated incidents of unrest has evolved into a recurring crisis, with various regions witnessing escalating confrontations and bloodshed in the name of cow protection.