Gurugram: Vipin Hindu is a gau rakshak, or cow protector, in Gurugram who says he’s saved thousands of cows from the “clutches of cow slaughterers” over the years.
In his late 30s, he is one of hundreds of such gau rakshaks who patrol the streets of Haryana to protect cows and enforce a ban on cow slaughter and beef consumption.
“I was a very active gau rakshak from 2011 to 2015. However, after I was appointed organising secretary of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) for Gurugram district in 2015, I have started sending my team whenever we have a tip-off regarding the transportation of cows for slaughter,” Vipin told ThePrint.
Though ostensibly cow protectors, some gau rakshaks are essentially cow vigilantes who don’t hesitate to take the law into their own hands to stop suspected cow smuggling.
Cow vigilantes—mostly linked with Hindutva groups—had been lying low for some time after the charred bodies of two Muslim youths from Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district, Nasir and Junaid, were recovered in a burnt vehicle in Haryana’s Bhiwani district in February last year.
Haryana police arrested Monu Manesar, a notorious Bajrang Dal member and cow vigilante from Gurugram, saying he and his accomplices killed Nasir and Junaid on suspicion of smuggling cows. Manesar is now in judicial custody.
But after a brief lull following Manesar’s arrest, cow vigilantes are back on the prowl and Haryana has seen a sudden surge in cow-related vigilantism in the past few weeks.
The August 23 killing of a 19-year-old student in Haryana, Aryan Mishra, by cow vigilantes on suspicion of being a cow smuggler has once again put the spotlight on the state’s armed gangs of gau rakshaks.
Last month, a group of five cow vigilantes shot dead the Faridabad teenager after a nearly 30-km car chase near a toll plaza in Palwal district. They said they mistook the victim for a cow smuggler. When Mishra’s father visited the main accused, Anil Kaushik, in jail, he said he thought the boy was Muslim and he regretted killing a Brahmin.
Kaushik is known locally as the Monu Manesar of Faridabad.
Mishra’s murder came barely three days after a Muslim migrant in Charkhi Dadri was killed by a mob on suspicion of eating beef.
Vipin says he and other gau rakshaks like him never take the law into their own hands. Instead, they inform the police and help them catch alleged cow smugglers. He says he gets information about activities of alleged cow smugglers through a network of informers.
His Facebook page, Gau Rakshak–Haryana, which has 1,200 followers, is filled with clippings of cows he saved. It also displays his mobile number.
But there’s a thin line between cow protection and cow vigilantism.
Former civil servant Phateh Singh Dagar said lynchings and hooliganism by cow vigilantes were never a part of Haryana’s culture. It was only after 2014 that some people emerged as self-styled cow protectors for chaudhar, or the feeling of being powerful.
But their numbers were limited. “I never heard about any nefarious activities by cow vigilantes in the state,” Dagar told ThePrint. “However, the situation has changed after 2014 and now we often hear about excesses and lynching by cow vigilantes.”
Also read: Friend, fugitive & a property dispute. Cops look at timeline leading up to Aryan Mishra murder
Toothless task force
Cow vigilante violence in Haryana increased after 2014 because of stricter cow protection laws under the state’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government that enabled cow protection groups to patrol alongside police. In March 2015, the government led by the then chief minister, Manohar Lal Khattar, passed a stringent new cow protection law, which made cow slaughter punishable with up to 10 years imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh.
In the same year, it also set up a commission called Haryana Gau Sewa Aayog to ensure the implementation of laws prohibiting the slaughter and/or cruelty towards cows.
The Haryana Gau Sewa Aayog had plans in 2017 to introduce police-verified identity cards for gau rakshaks, but Khattar didn’t approve the scheme.
Continuing with its spree of cow protection measures, Haryana established a Special Cow Protection Task Force (SCPTF) in 2021 to prevent cow smuggling and slaughter, rehabilitate stray cattle and take legal action against cow smugglers. However, an administrative officer who used to be a part of the task force told The Print the body had not held any meetings.
Cow vigilantes operate with impunity
Mishra’s murder, the latest incident of cow vigilantism, has sent shock waves across the state. But it’s hardly surprising: cow vigilantes have been acting with impunity over recent years, harassing and assaulting people as well as extorting money in the garb of cow protection.
Estimates of the number of gau rakshaks in Haryana vary. Bhani Ram Mangla, former chairman of the Haryana Gau Sewa Aayog, pegs it at about 700, but a gau rakshak from Fatehabad district told The Print over 1,500 cow protectors are active in the state.
They are affiliated with various groups such as the Bajrang Dal, Gau Raksha Dal (GRD) and Gauputra Sena, which issue their own identity cards to members after the government plan to issue ID cards for cow protection failed to take off.
“I wanted to issue identity cards to have a record of them. I appeal to all gau rakshaks not to take the law into their own hands and inform the police whenever they come across incidents of cow smuggling or cow slaughter,” Mangla told ThePrint.
“However, perhaps the gau sewaks don’t trust the government machinery. They have an impression that the Congress government didn’t act sternly against cow slaughter, the BJP government was also not taking enough measures to stop it.”
One gau rakshak said cow protection groups help the police by setting up barriers to stop cow smuggling and chasing vehicles of suspected cow smugglers. “We have sources within the community who keep us informed about the activities of cow smugglers. These sources are often people who work night shifts, like security guards and dairy workers,” he said.
“When we receive a tip-off about a vehicle transporting cows or we spot a suspicious vehicle ourselves, we immediately inform the police. Simultaneously, our teams pursue the suspects and, after catching them, turn them over to the police.”
According to him, the police and toll plazas recognise these ID cards.
A police officer in Gurugram, who requested anonymity, said the police acts whenever it receives any inputs from gau rakshaks about any violation of the cow slaughter ban.
However, he said, the police never allow anyone, including gau rakshaks, to take the law into their hands.
In May 2021, the Punjab and Haryana High Court asked the Haryana government to explain the authority vested in cow vigilantes to raid the homes of citizens. The high court was hearing the bail plea of a Mewat resident booked by police under the cow protection law. The police complaint against him said members of Gau Raksha Dal raided his house.
Sharvan Kumar Garg, chairman of the Gau Sewa Aayog, told ThePrint that while several gau rakshaks were doing a good job, nothing allowed them to take the law into their own hands. “There are instances where gau rakshaks have saved cows trapped in ponds, pits or drains. We always appreciate such action,” Garg said.
“But if they have any information about cow slaughter or transportation of cows, they should inform the police and should not take the law into their hands.”
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
Also read: Faridabad gau rakshak now ‘regrets’ killing a Brahmin. ‘Sad we killed our brother’