A Hindu teenager was fatally shot in the head by a gang of “cow protectors” in India after they mistook him for a Muslim cattle smuggler.
Aryan Mishra, 19, was travelling with his friends in Faridabad, India, when they were spotted by “cow vigilantes” on the Delhi-Agra national highway and chased for 18 miles.
When Mishra’s friend finally stopped in the early hours of August 24, the brutal group of five men emerged from their vehicle and pounced on Mishra before shooting him in the head at point-blank range.
Among the five who chased the Renault Duster in which Mishra was travelling was reportedly Anil Kaushik, 38, who often patrolled the area as a self-proclaimed “gau rakshak” or “protector of cows”.
Kaushik, along with four others, known only as Saurabh, Krishna, Varun and Adesh, were arrested four days after the murder and remanded in police custody for two days, Superintendent Aman Yadav said in a statement.
Aryan Mishra, 19, was killed in India on August 24 after five Hindu “cow vigilantes” mistook him for a Muslim cow smuggler.
Among the five who chased the Renault Duster in which Mishra was travelling was Anil Kaushik, 38, who used to patrol the area as a self-proclaimed “gau rakshak” (or “protector of cows”). Kaushik, along with four others, known only as Saurabh, Krishna, Varun and Adesh, were arrested four days after the killing and remanded in police custody for two days, Superintendent Aman Yadav said in a statement.
Mishra was travelling in Faridabad in a red Renault Duster before he and his friends were chased for 18 miles by the gang on the Delhi-Agra national highway.
But police do not expect to file charges until next month.
During interrogation, the suspects claimed that on the night of August 23, they had received information about alleged cattle smugglers in Faridabad with two SUVs.
Kaushik then found himself confronting Mishra’s devastated father, Siyanand, at the police station.
Siyanand, 49, said The times Kaushik told him: “I made a big mistake. Your son was a Hindu. I thought he was a Muslim.”
The heartbroken father asked the gang member if the murder would have been okay if his son had been Muslim.
“For a cow? Is a Muslim not a human being?” he asked.
“I told him he was a disgrace to Hindus and that he should rot in jail,” he added.
According to a report by The Print, Kaushik told Siyanand that he regretted killing “a brother” after mistaking the Hindu teenager for a Muslim.
The suspects were all “cow vigilantes” – members of a nationwide right-wing Hindu militia, the Gau Raksha Dal (GRD, or Cow Protection Association), which claims to protect cows (considered sacred by many Hindus) from slaughter, mainly by Muslim cattle traders.
Cow slaughter is banned or regulated in most Indian states for religious and cultural reasons, as animals are considered “sacred” beings within Hinduism.
But it is rare for vigilantes to face severe consequences for their actions, and it is often the victims and their families who face police scrutiny to determine whether they were in possession of beef.
Cow slaughter is banned or regulated in most states in India for religious and cultural reasons.
The suspects were all “cow vigilantes” – members of a nationwide right-wing Hindu militia, Gau Raksha Dal (GRD or Cow Protection Association), which claims to protect cows, considered sacred by many Hindus, from slaughter, mainly by Muslim cattle traders. Pictured: the GRD logo
Human rights groups around the world, and particularly in India, believe the gangs operate under the patronage and protection of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since the Hindu leader took power a decade ago.
However, the BJP has denied any link to the cow attacks and in 2016 Modi publicly criticised the vigilantes.
The Gau Raksha Dal has bands in almost half of all states in India, mainly in the north.
Its logo shows a cow’s head flanked by two rifles and a pair of daggers, as vigilantes patrol the streets armed and searching for suspected cattle smugglers.
Members of the gang also share information about alleged incidents of cow slaughter or cattle smuggling with local police and are said to have even joined officers in raids and arrests.
When news of Mishra’s death broke, the incident made headlines across the country and shocked communities across India.
But according to Mishra’s father, the horror was not his death, but the fact that a Hindu had been unjustly attacked.
Just days after Mishra’s death, on August 27, a Muslim migrant worker was beaten to death on suspicion of eating beef.
The next day, an elderly Muslim man on a train in Maharashtra was also beaten by Hindu vigilantes who accused him of having beef in his bag.
Mishra’s mother, Uma, says she now wants her youngest son’s death to put an end to cow-related lynchings.
“They are using the cow as an excuse to kill Muslims. My neighbours are Muslims. I don’t want any of them to suffer the loss of a loved one like I did,” she told The Times.
