Family of a 22-year-old youth has accused cow vigilantes of thrashing him to death after branding him a cow smuggler in Nuh district, but police said he died in a road accident.
TCN Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI — Police in Haryana’s Nuh district are yet to file the first information report (FIR) on the complaint of 22-year-old Muslim youth’s family members, who alleged that Waris died on Sunday after he was allegedly beaten up by the members of Bajrang Dal.
The police, however, claimed that Waris, who is the father of a 3-month-old baby and a resident of Hussainpur in Mewat, died in an accident.
In a complaint filed at Tauru’s Sadar police station, Imran, elder brother of Waris, said the members of Bajrang Dal led by Monu Manesar accused Waris of smuggling cows and beat him up.
“The accused took my brother and his associates into the forest in the presence of the police and beat them up brutally. Waris got seriously injured. The accused handed over half-dead Waris to the Turu police station. The police took him to Medical College Nalhad. But Waris died due to severe injuries,” said Imran in his complaint.
Shahid, cousin brother of Waris, told TwoCircles.net that the police did not file an FIR on their complaint.
“The police took our complaint but have not filed an FIR based on our complaint. The police are under pressure because the accused has support from the government,” said Shahid.
Arvind Kumar, SHO at Tauru Police station, told TwoCircles.net that they have filed an FIR related to the accident and cow.
About the allegations levelled by Waris’s family members in the complaint, he said that he will investigate them and then take action in the case. He refused to give further details related to the case.
He also informed that the police have filed an FIR under cow protection related to the act. The FIR is against three occupants of the car in which Waris along with his three associates Waris, Shoukeen and Nafis.
In a statement, Nuh SP Varun Singla also insisted that Varis died of an accident and rejected the allegations of the assault.
“The body had no visible injuries. It seems that he succumbed to internal injuries sustained in the accident. The family of the deceased has alleged that he was beaten up by gau rakshaks of Bajrang Dal, but prima facie, since the body had no visible injuries, there is no evidence suggesting any physical assault. A complaint against Bajrang Dal has been recorded in the daily diary register. There was no delay in police reaching the spot or any negligence in the accused being handed over to the police from gau rakshaks,” said Singla.
According to Imran, his brother Waris is a mechanic and went to Bhiwadi for his work-related issue. When he was coming back, a group of Bajrang Dal members namely Monu, Sonu and Himanshu along with others rammed their vehicle into Waris’s car near Khori village. The group abused Waris and his associates and accused them of cow smuggling. Meanwhile, the police also reached the spot. But the group took away Waris and his associates from there.
Waris, who got married in 2021, has a 3-month-old baby. His father is a farmer.
Shahid said that they have presented some videos to the police to show that his brother did not die due to the accident. He was assaulted.
Nafees, one of the associates of Waris, said that they were beaten up by the cow vigilantes.
“We told the police to see our brothers being beaten up. The accident did not cause the death. There is a video of after the incident in which the victims are talking properly,” said Shahid.
Shahid provided some videos to this correspondent. In a video, the victims are being asked their names and addresses by some person while they are injured and sitting inside a vehicle. In another video, a group of people are taking the victims in the vehicle. In another video, the vigilantes are holding the victim hostage.
He said that they often witnessed the raids of cow vigilantes in their areas. Recently, an elderly man was beaten up and the women in his house misbehaved with them. They are targeted because they are involved in the cattle trade.