A strange series events unfolded in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh in the last week of May. A mob with links to Hindutva groups brutally thrashed four Muslim men over suspicion of transporting cow meat. Horrific videos of the assault showed the victims in a bloodied state, stripped as they were beaten black and blue. Lab reports later found no trace of cow meat being transported. However, the police complaint filed by one of the assailants against the victims, invoking the state ban on cow slaughter, remains.
The incident raises several concerns. One, the unchecked rise of cow vigilantism in the country, which seems to be turning into an extortion racket. Two, the state of law and order in Uttar Pradesh. Three, the basic knowledge regarding different kinds of bovine meat and the legal implications of consuming or transporting them, which seems to evade many so-called cow protection activists or gau rakshaks. And lastly, just how easily cow protectionism can be used to target a community.
On May 24, a mob associated with a Hindutva group assaulted four Muslim men, Akeel, Kadeem, Akil and Arbaaj, near Aligarh’s Alhadadpur village for allegedly transporting beef. According to a first information report (FIR) filed by the victims, they were transporting meat from the Al Ammar Meat Factory in Aligarh to Atrauli town in a pickup truck as part of their daily routine.
The Assault
The complaint filed by the victims alleged that Ramkumar Arya, a resident of Harduaganj, and Arjun alias Bholu, allegedly conspired and sent several people as soon as their vehicle reached the road from Paneethi to Sadhu Ashram. These people stopped the vehicle, pulled out these four Muslim men and demanded a sum of Rs 50,000. When two of the men transporting the meat, Akeel and Arbaaj, refused to pay, two men—later identified as Ravindra alias Bunty and Luvkush—ordered the others to beat them up. This mob attacked the transporters with iron rods, sticks, batons, and sharp weapons, besides looting cash and mobile phones. Their vehicle was also set ablaze.
According to the FIR, the victims were in a critical, near-death condition while being held hostage. The assailants allegedly fled from the scene after the police arrived.
Note that the men were transporting meat from one of the factories of Al Ammar Frozen Foods Exports Pvt. Ltd, an Aligarh-based meat company authorised by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority to transport and export buffalo meat. The FIR, filed by the father of one of the victims, also alleged that those accused in this case had similarly tried to stop a vehicle from the Al Ammar meat factory 15 days ago and tried to extort a sum of Rs 50,000 then too. At the time, the Akrabad police rescued the vehicle, it said.
Sections 3(5) (common intention), 109 (abetment of offences), 190 (liability of members of unlawful assembly), 191(2) (rioting), 191(3) (rioting with deadly weapons), 308(5) (extortion by threat of death or grievous hurt), and 310(2) (dacoity) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita were invoked in the FIR filed on behalf of the victims at Harduaganj police station. Those named as accused in the case are Ramkumar Arya, Arjun (Arjun Singh Bholu), Chetan Lodhi, Shivam Hindu, Ravindra alias Bunty, Luvkush, Anuj Thakur Bhoora, Vijay, Girish Kumar Singh Pradhan, Ankit Mahmoodpur, Rana Ahladpur and Vijay Kumar Guma. There were about 20-25 unnamed assailants.
This story was originally published in altnews.in. Read the full story here.