Officials say will crack down on Haryana cow vigilante groups
The move came on a day when HT reported how the lack of such committees is among various factors allowing vigilantism to thrive, which has played out in groups targeting people in the name of cow smuggling. Officials said the HT report had highlighted key areas that needed immediate attention
Haryana has directed districts to set up a special committee mandated by the state’s law for cow protection and will crack down on private vigilante groups, officials said on Friday, days after the deaths of two Muslim men from Rajasthan in the state triggered outrage.
The move came on a day when HT reported how the lack of such committees is among various factors allowing vigilantism to thrive, which has played out in groups targeting people in the name of cow smuggling, often leaving victims severely injured or even dead. Officials said the HT report had highlighted key areas that needed immediate attention.
The family of the two Muslim men from Rajasthan’s Bharatpur, who were found dead in a car in Haryana’s Bhiwani, have accused the Bajrang Dal and a “gau rakshak” (cow protection) gang led by Mohit Yadav, who also goes by the name Monu Manesar and is active in the area. “We have asked all the districts to send us their report regarding the committee members and their operations. Also, all the districts have been asked to spread awareness regarding that anyone found violating the guidelines of cow protection act, strict action will be taken against the miscreant,” said Jawahar Yadav, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, adding that the government has reiterated to districts the need to set up these task force.
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The deputy commissioner in Gurugram, one of the areas from where HT reviewed footage about Monu Manesar’s activities, said that the special team will be set up and a meeting has been called for March 17.
“Three people will be nominated by the state Gau Seva Ayog, and two gau sevaks nominated by the administration. The committee will be formed after conducting background checks and criminal records, if any. The picture portrayed by the miscreants as cow vigilantes for their own benefits will no longer operate from the stretches at nights. A vigilante’s job was to pass tipoff or help enforcement agency but not to start behaving like one,” deputy commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav said, adding that the committee will help check such vigilantism.
Haryana’s Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Act, 2015, which prohibited cow slaughter, trafficking and consumption of beef in the state, contains provisions allowing “any police officer not below the rank of sub-inspector or any person authorised in this behalf by the government” to enforce its provisions.
In July 2021, the Haryana government notified state- and district-level cow protection task force committees to “give teeth to the act”. At the state level, it has six members – the chairperson as well as the secretary of the state Gau Seva Aayog, the special secretary of the revenue and disaster management department, the special secretary of the animal husbandry and dairying department, an additional director general of police (ADGP), and the additional legal remembrancer (ALR) of the department of legal affairs. In the district, each special cow protection task force has 11 members. Six of these are government officials. But there are five private citizens involved in enforcement – three people nominated by the state Gau Seva Ayog, and two gau sevaks nominated by the deputy commission.
Without these committees in place, the legal restriction on the number of people that can enforce the law has been in a grey area, HT reported on Friday as part of an exhaustive look into how vigilantism appears to have taken hold in the state.
The Gurugram deputy commissioner added: “Anyone found carrying illegal weapons and chasing vehicles at night will be arrested from the spot. Teams from police stations concerned will be deployed at key stretches to keep a check on their movement and to ensure they do not create ruckus or any violence is reported,” he said.
Also Read: Bhiwani killings: How pride intertwines with fear, ‘gau raksha’ and Monu Manesar in Haryana
The DC said that the operations of the committee will be monitored by senior district and state officials. Yadav said the details in the HT report would be considered and action be launched accordingly.
Yadav said he was not aware of extortion rackets being run by some of the cow vigilantes. “We became aware after HT report on Friday regarding the (extortion) operations of cow vigilantes. We are analysing recent cases and how the cow vigilantes were operating from the district. We will involve people who are actually doing Gau Sewa and protecting them by keeping in cow shelters (gaushalas). Our aim is to protect our cattle and to ensure they are not smuggled for slaughtering,” he said.
Advocate Tahir Hussain Ruparya, speaking to HT earlier for the report published on Friday, said many of his clients paid so-called gau rakshaks to have cases dropped. “My clients have paid them between ₹4 lakh and ₹10 lakh in the past, and Monu Manesar is the kingpin of this extortion gang,” he said.
