Spate of cow vigilantism in November 2024: Brutal assaults and legal impunity across North India.

From Haryana to Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, a series of violent incidents highlight the unchecked rise of cow vigilante groups, with escalating attacks on the marginalised community, and the complicity of law enforcement in enabling such violence
Illustration by Rahul Awasthi / The Telegraph

Cow vigilantism, a growing menace in India, has serious repercussions for communal harmony, rule of law, and fundamental rights. Cow vigilante groups, often emboldened by political support and societal acceptance, justify their actions under the guise of protecting cows, an animal considered sacred by many Hindus. However, these actions frequently involve violence, harassment, and even fatalities, disproportionately targeting Muslims and Dalits. Such incidents not only disrupt social cohesion but also reveal systemic failures, including police complicity, legislative loopholes, and a lack of accountability.

November 2024 witnessed a spate of cow vigilantism cases across North India, particularly in the state of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Punjab, each marked by its own brutality and disregard for legal norms. From public harassment and assaults to deaths in custody, these incidents underscore a grim pattern of targeted violence. The details of these incidents are provided below:

Cow vigilantism across states

Haryana

1. Location: Mohra, Ambala

Date: November 12

In Ambala’s Mohra village, the Gau Raksha Dal, led by national president Satish Kumar, stopped a truck carrying cattle. Assisted by local police, the vigilantes accused the Muslim drivers of smuggling cows for slaughter. Despite the absence of evidence, the vigilantes verbally abused and humiliated the drivers, hurling communal slurs. As per social media posts, eyewitnesses described how the group took over the investigation, dictating terms to the passive police officers. This incident is emblematic of how cow vigilantes exploit the legal machinery to legitimise their actions while targeting minorities.

2. Location: Nuh

Date: November 24

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 drivers were assaulted and publicly humiliated, with videos of the incident shared online to further intimidate the community. The lack of police action against the vigilantes highlights a troubling trend of selective enforcement, where victims are criminalised while perpetrators enjoy impunity.

Uttar Pradesh

1. Location: Chhutmalpur, Saharanpur

Date: November 19

A chilling incident occurred in Saharanpur’s Chhutmalpur, where members of the Gau Raksha Dal surrounded a Muslim woman found carrying meat. Without evidence, they accused her of possessing beef from an illegally slaughtered cow. The woman was publicly harassed, subjected to communal abuse, and forced to defend herself against baseless allegations. Such actions highlight how cow vigilantism often takes a gendered form, with women facing disproportionate humiliation.

2. Location: Vrindavan

Date: November 22

In Vrindavan, Gau Raksha Dal members intercepted a truck carrying cattle. The vigilantes assaulted the drivers, accusing them of illegal cow slaughter. The group filmed the attack and shared it online, using it as a propaganda tool to showcase their actions as a form of moral policing. Witnesses reported that the victims were left bleeding and traumatised while the police arrived only after the situation had escalated.

3. Location: Jaunpur

Date: November 22

One of the most harrowing incidents unfolded in Jaunpur, where a Muslim man allegedly died in police custody. The police alleged he was a cow smuggler and claimed he was shot during an encounter. However, the victim’s family provided a starkly different account: they stated he was detained while drinking tea at a market and later taken to a remote location, where he was tortured and shot in the leg. The family reported severe injuries, including chest trauma and bleeding from his nose and ears. This incident not only exposes the nexus between law enforcement and cow vigilantism but also raises questions about the misuse of encounter killings to target marginalised groups.

4. Location: Ghaziabad

Date: November 22

In Ghaziabad, members of the Mahadev Seva Sangh assaulted two truck drivers transporting cattle. The vigilantes accused them of cow smuggling and subjected them to a brutal beating. The victims were handed over to the police, who focused on questioning the drivers while ignoring the violence perpetrated by the vigilantes. This selective approach underscores the complicity of law enforcement in enabling mob violence.

5. Location: Mathura

Date: November 26

In Mathura, members of the Gau Raksha Dal, led by Sonu Hindu Palwal, attacked a truck driver transporting cattle, accusing him of illegal slaughter. The vigilantes also claimed that someone accompanying the driver fired a gun at them, but the alleged shooter escaped. The truck driver, visibly injured, was detained by the police. Witnesses reported that the vigilantes acted with a sense of impunity, knowing they would face no legal consequences for their actions.

Punjab

1. Location: Rajpura, Patiala

Date: November 25

In Rajpura, members of the Gau Raksha Dal, under Satish Kumar’s leadership, stopped and harassed three men, accusing them of being cow thieves. The vigilantes verbally abused the victims and threatened them with violence. Despite the lack of evidence, the group claimed to have acted in the interest of cow protection, highlighting how such vigilantes often operate without any legal basis.

Cow vigilantism: Systemic failures, communal targeting, and the role of social media

Cow vigilantism in India reflects a troubling intersection of systemic failures, communal biases, and the misuse of digital platforms. The recurring incidents highlight a disturbing pattern of complicity between law enforcement and vigilante groups. Police inaction—or, at times, active participation—not only enables these groups to function as parallel judicial systems but also legitimises their unlawful activities. The lack of accountability ensures that vigilantes operate with impunity, often using violence as a tool to assert dominance and intimidate vulnerable communities. This breakdown in the rule of law emboldens such groups to act as self-appointed enforcers of morality and legality.

A consistent and deeply concerning feature of cow vigilantism is the targeted harassment of Muslims and Dalits. These incidents are far from isolated; they form part of a broader narrative of communal polarisation, where the guise of cow protection is weaponised to criminalise and marginalise minority communities. The misuse of cow protection laws serves to legitimise these actions, creating a climate of fear and exclusion that exacerbates social tensions. Victims are often publicly humiliated, assaulted, or worse, killed, while perpetrators frequently face little to no legal repercussions. The societal impact of this targeting is profound, fostering mistrust and deepening communal divides in an already polarised environment.

Adding to the menace is the role of social media, which has become a powerful tool for amplifying cow vigilantism. Vigilante groups often document their actions—sometimes live-streaming assaults or sharing videos of violence—and circulate them online as propaganda. This digital spectacle not only normalises such behaviour but also desensitises the public to its brutality. By turning acts of violence into a form of communal performance, social media reinforces toxic narratives that encourage copycat incidents. The weaponisation of these platforms ensures that the reach and influence of vigilantes extend far beyond the immediate victims, further polarising society and stoking communal tensions.

The convergence of these factors—systemic failures, targeted communal violence, and the weaponisation of social media—has turned cow vigilantism into a potent threat to India’s constitutional values. It exposes weaknesses in law enforcement, highlights the misuse of religious sentiments for political gain, and demonstrates the alarming ease with which hate can be propagated in the digital age. Addressing this issue requires not only legal and institutional reforms but also a societal reckoning with the underlying prejudices and divisions that fuel such acts. Without decisive action, cow vigilantism will continue to erode the principles of justice, equality, and humanity that are fundamental to India’s democratic fabric.

Courtesy: Sabrang India

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