Haryana police to work with cow vigilantes

Pawan Pandit, president of the Bhartiya Gau Raksha Dal (BGRD) and resident of Bhiwani, Haryana, described the government’s latest effort as “a way to take some credit, a way to stay in the timeline”. Pandit said that gau rakshaks had to take matters in their hands because the authorities had failed to check violations of the law, saying that “if the government did its job well, civil society need not be involved”.

Cow vigilantism, it turns out, actually has a method to it. Established in 2012, Pandit describes BGRD as “something like a federation”, which comprises of district and state level units affiliated to the apex body, headquartered in Delhi. In the four years since its inception, Pandit feels that BGRD’s efforts have ensured that “people are getting aware” of the importance of cow protection.

But there is a downside to BGRD’s work as well. Pandit said that since gau rakshaks had started going after smugglers, incidents of violence had gone up. “When things were going on smoothly, they [cattle smugglers] were getting away with it easily. But they don’t want to stop their work, so now they come well-armed. Now they’re always ready to fire,” Pandit said.

Over-zealous gau rakshaks have been on the receiving end of attacks by cattle smugglers. Just last week, a member of the Gurgaon Gau Raksha Dal was shot at while attempting to stop a vehicle transporting cattle, and sustained bullet injuries on his fingers. Under the circumstances, Naveen Sharma, general secretary of BGRD, who is based in Himachal Pradesh, agreed that “it’s best if the police does its work”. However, he believes vigilantism is inevitable because of the sacredness of the cow.

“Agar aapki behen-beti ka balaatkar ho jaata hai, tab aap kya karoge [If you daughter or sister gets raped, what will you do then]?” he asked. “And we consider the cow our mother!”

Pandit feels that going after cattle smugglers is important, even though he conceded the point that the people cow vigilantes grab are “mostly rented or hired people”. It still serves a purpose, according to him. “When they [smugglers] know that there is danger out there, that there are people on the lookout and they can’t cross the line, then their masters won’t get new recruits,” Pandit said.

Undoubtedly, Arora is bound to have her hands full with the vigilantes unlikely to back down. She said her officers would receive special training in order to prevent situations where the public takes the law into their hands, thus promoting vigilantism. “Lots of times law and order situations are created when we are not able to catch cow smugglers and the public catches them,” she said. “So we need to train our policemen about the Act. The modus operandi we adopt, the rules we follow, all these things will be shared with our policemen and they will be encouraged to catch such people more and more.”

It is doubtful that the gau rakshaks will be impressed with Arora’s efforts, despite her professed intention of working with them rather than against them. Even after passing a strict cow protection bill and having a dedicated cow protection unit, cow vigilantes have only distrust for the government. What is likely is that regardless of Arora’s cow protection unit, these groups will be out on the streets, setting up barriers, chasing vehicles, beating up smugglers and occasionally taking bullets, all for the love of gau mata.

(source: http://www.newslaundry.com/)