Waris Khan and his friends are in their vehicle while cow vigilantes question them, on January 28 near Nuh in Haryana. From a video grab.
A special cow protection task force empowers cow vigilantes to target alleged cow smugglers with impunity.
Haryana’s Mewat region has seen a number of incidents of mob violence and lynching in recent years. The victims of the attacks have been mostly Muslim men who were thought to be involved in cow smuggling and slaughter. The most recent incident involves Waris Khan, a car dealer and mechanic, whose family claims that he was killed by Hindutva goons posing as cow protectors.
On January 28, a video of three Muslim youths allegedly being harassed by Bajrang Dal members in Tauru near Nuh in Haryana went viral on social media. The video shows Waris and his friends Shaukeen and Nafis in the backseat of a car being questioned about where they hail from and so on. The interviewer’s tone is hostile while the three young men are barely able to speak. Hours after this video was shot, Waris, 22, father of a three-month-old girl, died. Citing the video as proof, his cousin Shahid Hussain said, “They killed him. They tortured them for hours before he died.”
Even as Waris’ family maintained that “it is a hate crime in the name of gauraksha” (cow protection) and named a local Bajrang Dal member, Monu Manesar, for his involvement in it, Nuh Superintendent of Police (SP) Varun Singla called it an unfortunate road accident.
Waris was on his way back from Rajasthan’s Bhiwandi with Shaukeen and Nafis when their car allegedly met with an accident. The police arrested Shaukeen and Nafis after a mini-truck driver involved in the collision filed a report. Waris died before he could be presented in court. A cow was found in the trunk of Waris’ car, the police said.
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