Hisar: Farmer Bir Singh is not getting any younger. On 30 April, he was travelling from Mochiwali, his village in Haryana’s Fatehabad district, to Nakoda in Rajasthan. It was 1 am. He was alone with the four cows he was going to sell. Singh was stopped, 20 kilometres ahead of the Landhari-Chikanwas toll plaza by a gang of seven gau rakshaks, the self-appointed cow-protectors. He was harangued, threatened and exhorted for the little sum of money he was carrying. “They asked me for Rs 10,000. I only had a thousand. Where would I get that money from?” says Singh.
Cow vigilantism has a well-established foothold in Haryana’s Mewat. But the gau rakshaks are now wading their way into other parts of the state; their influence seeping into Hisar near Sirsa. And toll plazas of interior Haryana is their domain now. They operate in the dead of the night with farmers even claiming that toll plaza workers are their informants.
The farmers have no patience. The barter and sale of cows is key to their livelihood. Despite the apparent impunity which the gau rakshaks enjoy, farmers are determined to not let Hisar and Sirsa be run by them.
They are grappling with the spectre of many mini-Monu Manesars springing up in the Haryana heartland. And this time, it is the Hindus who are being harassed.
Farmers from Haryana’s Pagdi Sambhal Jatta Kisan Sangharsh Samiti mobilised, and gathered outside Hisar’s Sadar police station and an FIR was filed against seven gau rakshaks who allegedly harassed Bir Singh. Two dubious-sounding names have been given: Khajan Hindu and Sunil Krantikari, while the others remain anonymous. At the time of this report, arrests were yet to be made. “The investigation is still ongoing,” says Sandeep Singh, Station House Officer (SHO). The accused persons have been charged under six sections of the IPC, including 147 (for rioting), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 385 (extortion), 341 (for wrongful restraint), and 506 (criminal intimidation).
Krantikari, who has been named in the FIR insists they did nothing to Bir Singh. “We have video evidence. He confesses we didn’t extort, harass or beat him,” says Krantikari. A case has been filed because of the cops are under pressure from the farmers.
He estimates there are around 600-700 gau rakshaks in and around Hisar and Sirsa. “The police know us and so do the people at toll plaza” he says, confirming that secluded toll booths and highways are their haunting grounds.
“We’ve stopped between 10 and 15 cars in the past month,” he says.
About a seven-minute drive away from the railway station, Sandeep Siwach is sprawled on a manjhi in his house in the village of Dhandhoor, as he waits for his fellow-members of the Pagdi Sambhal Jatta Kisan Sangharsh Samiti to join him. As the organisation’s general secretary, he is satisfied with the day’s work. “We’ll always help farmers. Who dares to file an FIR against them?” says Siwach, who owns farmland of about 10 acres. Ask anyone in Dhandhoor –– they know where Sandeep Siwach lives.
“You used to find them mostly in Mewat and Gurgaon. But now they’re after us as well,” says Siwach, with a hint of foreboding but no fear. He got a phone call from Singh at 3 o’clock in the morning. His cows had been taken to the police station, and were put in lockup. Singh showed them a letter signed by his panchayat’s sarpanch, as per which he is allowed to commute, cows in tow. “We’ll show the sarpanch as well,” a gau rakshak allegedly told Singh. Singh says the gau rakshak’s finger was twisted, as a means of intimidation. Singh is also a member of his village’s panchayat. He is a respectable farmer. “He felt humiliated and calling me from the police station was an insult to his dignity,” says Siwach.
Now that the deed of filing the FIR is done, Siwach and his fellow farmers are a bit relaxed. “Bir Singh shouldn’t be afraid,” Pradeep Malik, another farmer, tells Siwach, nonchalantly.
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Flighty, flashy and aggressive
The issue of gau rakshaks is bigger than threats and intimidation tactics meted out to a single farmer. The farmers talk about how stealthily they function. Cars are parked at night on secluded highways. Informants are also lurking around. “If there is a group of four-five farmers transporting animals, they won’t do anything,” one farmer says.
In their early to mid-20s, the gau rakshaks are always aggressive and often drunk. Once they stop you, they tend to ask for tedious paperwork. “A note from the DM (district magistrate), the SDM (sub-divisional magistrate), a medical for the animal. How will a small farmer do so much,” he asks.
The farmers find there to be something distinctly sinister about the gau rakshaks. “They are everywhere. It’s like a chain,” says Atmaram, an elderly farmer dressed in an immaculate white kurta-pajama.
According to them, gau rakshaks cause trouble for everyone, including the cops –– whose hands are mostly tied. The farmers believe that the police are out of options, and that they too are sick of the vigilantes. SHO Sandeep Singh told ThePrint that this is the first FIR that has been filed against the gau rakshaks in the past year. He declined to comment further.
Sunil Krantikari, one of the seven mentioned in the FIR, is from the same village as Mahavir, a farmer who is also a member of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti. “His [ Krantikari] family is tired of him,” Mahavir says. He recalls an incident when Krantikari was up in arms over the killing of two dogs in a cowshed. But on the matters related to cows he is completely indifferent, says Mahavir.
“It’s a way to get quick cash, and that’s all they want,” he adds, his voice full of derision. Mahavir and other farmers allude that the gau rakshaks consist of mostly wastrels: young, flighty men who lack ambition. That’s why they’re flashy. And brazen.
KD is a farmer not to be messed with. He spent a year at the Singhu border during the farmers’ protests in Delhi. He is young, but doesn’t speak much. He sits stoically with his arms crossed. And when he does talk, you listen.
“My number was sent on one of their [ gau rakshak] WhatsApp groups during the protests. They called me up and started harassing me. I gave it back to them. They didn’t call after that,” he says. Other farmers too complain of comments on their posts, and the proliferation of threats on WhatsApp groups.
Farmer Nirankar Tyagi was travelling from his village in Uttarakhand to a mela close to Hisar. On his way, he was stopped by gau rakshaks. “They banged on my car with sticks. Opened the boot, searched my clothes. They weren’t able to find money so they took my phone charger,” says Tyagi.
His cows were taken from him, and put in a cowshed run by gau rakshaks. With the help of the police, he managed to get them back.
In cities, the gau rakshak on everyone’s lips is Bajrang Dal’s Mohit Yadav alias Monu Manesar, wrested further into the public eye after being held responsible for the charred remains of two Muslim men, Junaid and Nasir, in Bhiwani.
Hisar’s farmers are yet to encounter Monu Manesar. “He hasn’t done anything here. But who are these people, if not mini-Monu Manesars,” says Siwach darkly. The farmers ThePrint spoke to were either Hindus or Sikhs, but alleged that circumstances are far worse for Muslims. “If it’ll take us a week to get our cows back, it’ll take them a month,” says Siwach.
“Have you ever heard of a Hindu being hit with lathis [by the gau rakshaks]?” he asks.
Also read: ‘Sabko Monu banna padega’ — thousands attend 2nd Hindu mahapanchayat for ‘gau rakshak’ Manesar
Disputed number of gau rakshaks
Sanjay Arya, a gau rakshak based around Mewat, paints a dramatically different picture. He runs an ashram for cows. “I wake up at 4 in the morning. At 10 am, I feed the cows. After that I bathe them. At 4 pm, I give them water,” he says. He adds that his entire day is devoted to cows, and he loves it.
“Nowhere in Haryana is there a place like ours,” he announces, eager for people to visit his cowshed. He denies that their numbers are increasing in Hisar and Sirsa. “We’re mostly in Mewat, not in Sirsa or Hisar.”
The number of gau rakshaks is disputed with multiple estimates. The farmers of Hisar allege that there are about 10-15 per district. An earlier report by ThePrint, puts them at an astounding 15,000, including volunteers. SHO Sandeep Singh refused to comment, saying he has no information regarding the numbers.
Back in July 2021, the Manohar Lal Khattar government greenlighted the ‘Special Cow Task Force Committee’, which consisted of a number of senior government officials. Each district has its own 11-member committee, of which six are government administrators and two are nominated by the deputy commissioner. Although, the “goons” the farmers speak of, who are ostensibly wreaking havoc, are volunteers and have by-and-large not emerged through any official channels. They and their informants speed through toll plazas, either through a fast-tag, or without paying the toll. “The informants tell the rakshaks: this vehicle has an animal,” says Siwach.
Mistreated by the saviours
There are plenty of losses for farmers. They travel substantial distances, either to Rajasthan or Uttar Pradesh in order to sell their cows, which is why their journey typically starts at night. The animal needs to be in its prime, well-fed and healthy. After being stopped by the gangs, this entire process unravels.
The cows are held captive. Their release tends to be arduous; it can take up to a week. During this time, they are seldom fed. When the cows emerge, they are skeletal –– no longer fit for sale. On occasion, they die.
Bir Singh’s cows were in stable condition when they were released. After that, he left for ‘mela’ in Nakoda where he would sell the animals.
Ironically, cows saviours often facilitate its ill-health. “In the beginning, they tend to look after cows. They make a big show of it. In case there is an injured cow, they raise money for its treatment and for ambulances. Outside gaushalas (cowsheds), there are boxes where people can deposit money. We don’t know where this money goes,” says Malik. The farmers know this because the gau rakshaks post frequently on social media and put messages in WhatsApp groups.
If a farmer has a small family, they can survive and make do with just one healthy cow and one good buffalo. “It is the farmer who treats the cow well, it is his duty,” says Atmaram. Siwach says that the cow deaths are on the rise. Spitballing, he approximates that out of 3,200 cows in Hisar, only about 1,100 are left and alludes the cause to be the neglect they face in cowsheds and how poorly they are treated by those who manage them.
“We never kill cows. Even if it’s no longer of service to us,” says Siwach. Malik points to a pair of horns visible over a wall. They belong to a bull who has aged-out, retired, so-to-speak. The group of farmers are in agreement: he will die here. “He will be buried. And we will perform a service for him.”
“After all, a farmer only has two things: his land and his animals,” says Mahavir. It is their final word—the tenor shifts and their conversation lulls into completion.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)