Gau rakshaks either aren't afraid of Modi or have his silent support
On Thursday, April 20, 2017, India Today and Aaj Tak channels showed a special report on gau rakshaks or cow vigilantes. Here is what they showed.
Gau rakshaks running amok in different parts of the country, punishing people on the mere suspicion of being cow smugglers. In fact, they boasted of their foolproof modus operandi on hidden camera.
Nagendra Kumar, a spokesperson for the Rashtriya Gau Raksha Dal of Moradabad, narrated the modus operandi behind such attacks: "You've got to at least break their legs so that they cannot walk for the rest of their lives." The thrashing is deliberately kept bloodless, he confessed.
More often than not, at the receiving end of the violence, are genuine cow traders.
Usually, one would expect the government to act on such reports with alacrity. On the contrary, three more attacks by gau rakshaks were reported at three different places in India within three days of the special report being broadcast.
Jammu attack
Two days later, on April 22, five members of a family, including a 9-year-old, were injured in an attack by gau rakshaks in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir. A nomadic family was moving with their livestock near the Talwara area, when a large group of gau rakshaks intercepted them, and beat them up with iron rods. The cow vigilantes also took away their entire flock, including goats, sheep and cows.
A video of the attack went viral on social media. In the video, women are heard screaming and begging for mercy as a large group of men kick down the tin structure they had taken refuge in. A few attackers are heard chanting Jai Shri Ram and Bharat Mata Ki Jai while mercilessly thrashing the family. An FIR was filed against the assailants.
Delhi attack
On April 23, 2017, three people transporting cattle were allegedly beaten up by activists of an animal rights group in south Delhi’s Kalkaji. They were transporting buffaloes. One Gaurav Gupta, an animal rights activist and a representative of People For Animals (PFA), informed the police of the incident. This NGO is founded and chaired by Union minister Maneka Gandhi.
Even after the arrival of the PCR staff, the mob allegedly continued attacking the victims. It is also alleged that members of the mob misbehaved with the policemen who tried to intervene. The victim had legal transit papers for transporting the animals. Two FIRs were filed. One against the cattle traders and another against those who allegedly assaulted them.
Giridih attack
On the same day that the Delhi attack took place, Jharkhand's Giridih witnessed similar action. In the morning, some people raised an alarm after spotting 20 cows as well as a calf carcass stuffed with husk. The crowd then stopped the vehicles and thrashed the drivers.
Soon, the number of gau rakshaks swelled. There was a notion that the animals were bound for a slaughterhouse. A police team reached the spot but was pelted with stones by the assembled crowd.
SDO Namita Kumari, SDPO Manish Toppo and two other policemen were injured. The police had to eventually call for reinforcements and cane the crowd. Incidentally, the cows belonged to one Yadav from Bhojpur in Bihar.
It is a traditional practice in that area to keep the calf's carcass stuffed with husk, so that the mother is fooled into giving milk.
Five FIRs were lodged by all three parties involved - the administration, the victims as well as the gau rakshaks.
One may ignore a report from a leading news channel of the country but the gau rakshaks seem to have ignored even the Prime Minister's words. In August last year, PM Narendra Modi twice spoke against cow vigilantism.
He said on gau rakshaks: "70-80 per cent will be those who indulge in anti-social activities and try to hide their sins by pretending to be cow protectors.”
Modi dubbed such vigilante acts as "tandav" and asked the states governments to prepare dossiers of such cow protectors.
But it seems that both gau rakshaks and state governments have turned a deaf ear to the PM's talk. If the states would have acted, three attacks by cow vigilantes in 24 hours in three different states would not have taken place.
In Delhi and Jharkhand, the police's control is with a BJP administration and in Jammu and Kashmir, the party shares power with the PDP.
This brings one to the conclusion that either the Prime Minister's words don't carry weight for the states or that his tough talk was just lip service.
How else can such violent acts be interpreted?