Supreme Court has said it again, like it did in the last few days, that ‘assault in the name of cattle protection is gruesome criminal act’. This warning is like the last and helpless cry of democracy. Just last week the SC had issued directions to state and central governments against increasing crime in the name of cattle protection.
In connection with this, many people have been lynched to death in mob assaults. And unfortunately, mob violence is taking different forms in India like a virus. Once a while we would hear about Dalit women being killed in eastern parts of India suspecting them to be witches or black magic practitioners. This issue hardly created nervousness as it does now. It was well known that if members of upper castes in any village had some scores to settle on a woman, they would spread the rumour that the lady was into black magic and instigate the crowd to kill her. But those people who kill on rumours, are not those who really care about cattle protection.
The Gau Rakshaks are not farmers. They have nothing to do with any aspect of cow rearing. They are goondas who come together under the guise of cow protection. There are no examples of farmers coming together in the name of cow safety and assaulting the cow traders. The Gau Rakshaks belong to a particular political ideology and work for a single party. Their interest is not cattle protection, but their target is people from a particular community. Their agenda is to create fear and hatred among people.
Owing to all this, though the Supreme Court has said many a times that the assaults in the name of Gau Raksha should be contained, nothing has come out of it. Main reason for this is the political backing the Gau Rakshaks enjoy, and it’s the same power that is ruling the nation as well. This is not something the supreme court is unaware of. How would anyone pay attention to the words of a court when political leaders project these antisocial elements as crusaders of culture instead of calling them criminals? Why is the court not banning the ‘Gau Raksha’ outfits when the assault under this guise is being condemned by the very institution? Today, a lot of goondas have formed Gau Raksha teams.
But none of the governments are identifying and registering cases against them. The fake Gau Rakshaks don’t run away after assaulting the cow traders, instead they bring the guy to the police station. The police never register cases against the assaulters, and file a complaint against the victims instead. Which means the police and these fake Gau Rakshaks form a nexus. They support these crimes, in some indirect manner.
With this being the case, where would one take the case to? And how is the SC expecting these crimes to stop? The central government that has benefited from these Gau Rakshaks would hardly think of initiating action against the culprits, even if the SC says so. It is a good development that the SC has directed the parliament to frame a law to punish those who take law onto their own hands. But will the BJP government initiate this, after having benefited from the crime vitiated atmosphere? Would RSS allow this to ever happen? For this reason, the observation of the Supreme Court feels like the last cry to safeguard democracy.
The crowd violence in the name of cow vigilantism is spreading to other areas too. These instances of mob violence are waking the animal in even the sanest of people. Gau Rakshaks are an inspiration to such people. There is a criminal in even the most decent person. He would be living a sane life owing to the legal framework, society and family responsibilities. But should he get a chance to commit a crime instigated by a mob, he could even flash his bloody thirsty behavior. State saw this happen in Bidar in different form. The murder of an innocent person was not a coincidence fuelled by rumour, but a weak law and order system. The law has shown them they can get away with a murder if a mob carries it out. Hence, the murderers are out on the street without fear.
We cannot always blame WhatsApp for this. Miscreants have attacked Swami Agnivesh in Jharkhand. The assaulters were neither innocent nor victims of rumour mongering. Instead, they are recognized workers of a political party. They are sure that they would be arrested if they attack in groups. If there was a common man in the place of Swami Agnivesh, he would have been killed by now. These are signs of the country walking right into stone age under the leadership of Modi. The culprits are using democracy to kill democracy, which is a massive tragedy.
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Mathura(UP), Apr 5 (PTI): A retired Army colonel from Haryana has filed a police complaint here, alleging that he was held hostage, assaulted, looted and forced to participate in an "obscene video" at gunpoint with a woman he met through a matrimonial website, police said on Saturday.
The woman from Mathura, who was allegedly in on the plan to rob him, was working with other accomplices, the ex-armyman said in his complaint filed on Thursday.
According to Barsana Station House Officer (SHO) Raj Kamal Singh, Colonel Rajneesh Soni (retired), a resident of Gurugram, reported that he was contacted by a woman from Barsana on a matrimonial website in January. The woman allegedly agreed to marry him, and they began communicating.
The woman allegedly persuaded the colonel to visit Barsana on January 25, requesting that he visit the Radharani temple. When he arrived, she arranged for his stay at a guest house and took him on a tour of the area, including a visit to the temple, the complainant said.
After returning to the guest house, the woman and her accomplices allegedly told the colonel that her brother had been involved in an accident and they needed to leave immediately. They then led him to a waiting car.
"Once outside the town limits, the colonel alleges that he was attacked by the occupants of the car. They seized his phone, physically assaulted him, and forced him to contact relatives and friends to transfer money," the SHO said.
"He was then taken back to the guest house, where he was allegedly forced to participate in obscene videos and photographs at gunpoint. He was threatened that the videos would be made public if he reported the incident," the officer said.
The colonel has alleged that his purse, bag, gold chain, debit card and Rs. 12,000 in cash were stolen from the guest house.
After an unsuccessful attempt at locating the perpetrators himself, the colonel finally reported the incident to the Barsana police two days ago, he said.
"A case has been registered under relevant sections of the BNS and all facts are being investigated. Further action will be taken as per facts found in the investigation," the SHO said.