Under the guise of cow protection: reports of assault, illegal restraint against Muslims

On an average, at least 3-4 incidents of cow vigilantism, where men are beaten up, threatened for allegedly carrying beef or smuggling cows emerge from the northern parts of the country

Cow vigilantism has become a daily affair with reports coming in from various parts of north India, especially Delhi, Haryana and UP where such cow protection groups are in force and receive the sanction of the state as well. Protecting the cow is only a pretext to use violence against the minorities and the marginalised. Using the guise of protecting cows, goons have attacked the poor Muslim minority, keeping them under their thumb, while the government, the law enforcement have majorly turned a blind eye.

Despite the clearly increasing rate of attacks in the name of “cow protection” or what is also called as “cow vigilantism”, there has been no strict action in this regard and neither has any legislature, be it state or the Centre, that has passed a law against crimes emanating from cow vigilantism.

On February 25, a Muslim man was allegedly harassed for selling beef by members of Bajrang Dal in Tengakhat Dibrugarh district of Assam. In the video posted by Hindutva Watch, the men can be heard conversing in Assamese.

Such cow vigilantism is egged on by right wing leaders like Pramod Muthalik. Muthalik who is the chief of Sri Ram Sene, a regional right group of Karnataka, while addressing an audience, said that they should keep swords at home to protect cows, temples and fellow Hindus. A policeman is seen standing behind Muthalik while he made this hate speech in Kannada.

On February 17, a video was posted where members of Delhi’s cow vigilante unit of Gau Raksha Dal can be seen manhandling a truck driver named Usman for allegedly transporting beef. The man questioning Usman identified himself as Rocky Rana. The truck driver was coming from Mandi village in Mewat and he was caught by the goons in Karolbagh. While questioning him though, Usman mentioned it was some other kind of meat (indiscernible in the video), yet, the goons insisted that he was carrying beef.

On February 20 as well a similar video had surfaced of goons terrorizing truck drivers over suspicion of cow smuggling/transporting beef. This was from Gau Raksha Dal in Haryana

On March 7, members of Bajrang Dal and Gau Raksha Dal collectively assaulted a man called Salahuddin over allegations of transporting beef. In the video it can be seen he was being slapped and manhandled by these men, in Mathura, UP.

On March 4 another incident was reported from Mathura where members of  All India Gauraksha Mahasangh were seen assaulting a truck driver on allegations of cow smuggling. Before being pushed into the police van, he was beaten by these goons, while the policeman quietly watched and let the goons take the law in their hands.

Courtesy : Sabrang India

Note: This news piece was originally published in sabrangindia.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights.