The police have constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the confinement and beating up of the Muslim youth who hails from Uttar Pradesh at a Rohtak village over suspicion of cattle smuggling.
Image Courtesy: Sat Singh
Rohtak: 24-year-old Naushad Mohammad has worked in dairy for 10 years. It was a routine day for him which turned into a nightmare when he was tied to a pole and beaten with sticks while a mob called him a cow smuggler. He was heading to sell buffaloes when he was stopped by a cow vigilante.
“It was around 8 pm. We had reached Rohtak’s Bhalout village when I was waylaid by one Jashpal Gumana, who had chased me his scooter,” Naushad said, adding that Gumana overpowered him as soon as he got off the pick-up jeep he was in and shouted “cow smuggler” to attract the attention of nearby villagers.
Naushad’s companions Mehboob and Iqbal fled the spot sensing trouble.
Soon after, several youths arrived with sticks, tied him to a pole, stripped him and beat him mercilessly.
“Before I could understand what was going on, I was bleeding from the nose, ear, legs and back. One of the cow activists tortured me by burning a beedi on my skin and branding me a ‘cow smuggler’,” he said.
Naushad said policemen arrived at the site after he was beaten for two hours and took him to the police station.
“I was handcuffed and made to sit on the floor. I was tied to a bed with a chain while I was in pain. I kept pleading with the police to take me to a doctor,” he said.
Sunil Kumar, who runs a dairy at Charkhi Dadri village in Haryana, said Naushad had worked for him for the past 10 years. “I had hired him to sell buffaloes at a cattle fair. We run our livelihood through this trade. On 19 January, too, he was ferrying a buffalo and two calves, not cows, as the cow vigilante groups alleged,” Sunil said in a report by Firstpost.
The police have constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the confinement and beating up of the Muslim youth who hails from Uttar Pradesh at a Rohtak village over suspicion of cattle smuggling.
Talking to The Tribune on Monday, Rohtak SP Jashandeep Singh Randhawa said an SIT, headed by ASP Makshud Ahmad, would look into the two FIRs registered in the case.
“Strict legal action will be taken against the persons responsible for the wrongful confinement and beating up of the youth. Disciplinary action will be taken against the police officials dealing with the matter if any lapse is found on their part,” he said.
Preet Singh, district president of the All-India Kisan Sabha, said he saw Naushad handcuffed and tied to a cot at the Sadar police station. He said he also clicked his pictures.
On the other hand, Manjeet, SHO, Sadar police station, said Naushad was never handcuffed or kept in police custody at the police station. He said two FIRs had been registered on the basis of the complaints lodged by Jaspal and Naushad, maintaining no arrests had been made so far.
Senior leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Inderjit Singh said self-styled “gaurakshaks” were “openly taking the law into their hands with the patronage of the ruling BJP”, and that this was why the administration was not acting against vigilante groups. “As a result, cattle trade, a crucial livelihood of farmers, is on the verge of collapse as the traders feared these antisocial elements,” he said in the Firstpost report.
Haryana AAP convener Naveen Jaihind said it was not possible for cow vigilante groups to take the law into their hands without support from their political bosses. “It is sad that cattle traders are being harassed at the behest of BJP government leaders,” he added in the report.
While Naushad and his two companions have been booked under Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and Section 13 (1) of the Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Act, 2015, a case against unknown persons has been registered under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC on Naushad’s complaint.