India: ‘Gau rakshaks’ chase, shoot student

India An 18-year-old school-going boy was shot dead by so-called ‘gau rakshaks’ after chasing him for miles on suspicion of involvement in cattle smuggling.

This incident took place on August 23 in the city of Faridabad in the northern state of Haryana, India. Just a few days ago, another village rakshasik group killed a laborer in Charkhi Dadri district cow He was tortured and killed on the suspicion of eating his flesh.

Cows are considered sacred in India and many others Hindu Worship him. Hinduism is the religion of the majority population of India. Groups working for the Gau Rakshas are accused of enforcing Indian laws that ban the slaughter of cattle and the consumption of large meat in the country, and the groups often use violence to enforce the law. are

Over the past few years, several cow ‘protectors’ have been accused of engaging in extra-judicial activities involving violence.

These people often clash with law enforcement agencies, but their activities also receive support from those who believe they are defending Hinduism.

The activities of these groups have increased since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014 as the head of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The gau rakshaks, who were on the lookout for cattle smugglers, allegedly chased the student Aryan Mishra’s vehicle for about 18 miles (30 km) and then opened fire, NDTV reported.

Five members of the group have been arrested in connection with this incident. The accused have been identified as Anil Kaushik, Varun, Krishna, Adesh, and Saurabh.

They said they had received information that smugglers were operating in the area in big Renault Duster and Toyota Fortuner vehicles and were trying to get cattle.

Mishra and his friends, Harshit and Shanky, were in a Renault Duster when they were stopped by the men. It is said that the occupants of the vehicle had already had an altercation with another person, and they fled mistaking the gau rakshaks for their opponents.

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India Today reported that the cow rickshaw pullers, on their part, were convinced that the occupants of the vehicle were cattle smugglers. So they chased the vehicle and opened fire, in which Mishra was shot. When the vehicle finally stopped, the assailants fired another shot into Mishra’s chest, killing him.

According to the police, the accused first tried to mislead the investigators and said that they had thrown the weapon in the canal. However, the weapon was later recovered from Kaushik’s house.

The arrested persons are currently in police custody and further investigation is underway.

Mishra’s killing followed another heartbreaking incident in Haryana on August 27, when a group of gau rakshaks beat to death an activist from West Bengal, Sabir Malik. Authorities have arrested seven people, including two minors, in connection with Sabir Malik’s death. The state is busy dealing with the growing number of these crimes.

Indian religious extremist Hindu groups have called for a total ban on cow slaughter across the country, leading to several states enacting strict laws against cow slaughter.

Critics say the laws have emboldened cattle rustlers, leading to increased attacks on people accused of slaughtering cows for meat or hides. Most of the victims of these attacks are the minority Muslim community and the lower castes under India’s ancient caste system.

The death of a 55-year-old woman was reported last week, allegedly due to fear. The police raided the woman’s house in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor to find out if she kept beef in the house. Finally, a search revealed that there was no beef in their house.

Uttar Pradesh has strict laws against cow slaughter, violating which can lead to up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to five lakh Indian rupees (£4,500).

The state’s anti-cow slaughter law not only prohibits the killing of cows, but also bans the sale and transportation of large meat.

In the neighboring state of Madhya Pradesh, authorities demolished the homes of 11 people in June. Earlier it was claimed that beef was found in his fridge and cows in the backyard of his house. Later, the police said that these houses were constructed illegally on government land, but the police did not provide any evidence in this regard.

In September last year, police arrested a man named Mohit Yadav, alias Mono Munisar. He was accused of inciting bloody violence in the name of religion in the northern Indian state of Haryana in July.

The head of a unit set up by a hardline Hindu group for village rakshas was recently detained. He was accused of making ‘objectionable and provocative’ posts on social media which led to incidents of religious-based violence in Haryana’s Noh district in which at least six people were killed and several injured. Done.

He was also accused of killing two Muslim men in the neighboring state of Rajasthan.

In April last year, four members of the right-wing All India Hindu Mahasabha were arrested in Uttar Pradesh. They were accused of slaughtering cows and trying to implicate Muslims in a false accusation. The police came to know that the group was allegedly involved in filing a fake complaint against four Muslims for cow slaughter, after which they were arrested.

In March 2023, police in the state of Bihar arrested three people in connection with the death of a Muslim named Naseem Qureshi. Naseem Qureshi was attacked on suspicion of possessing beef.

On September 1, an elderly Muslim man was attacked by fellow travelers in Maharashtra’s Nashik district on suspicion of keeping beef in a moving train. Police arrested three people who were allegedly involved in the attack after the video of the incident went viral on social media.