Ghazala Ahmad | Clarion India
NEW DELHI – Two Muslim men were allegedly kidnapped, assaulted and burnt alive inside their car in yet another case related to the suspicion of cow smuggling by a Hindutva mob on the Rajasthan- Haryana border on Thursday.
The deceased were identified as Junaid and Nasir and they are the residents of Ghatmeeka village in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district. They were killed 100 kilometers away from their village. Members of Hindutva outfit Bajrang Dal were accused of killing Muslim men on the pretext of ‘cow smuggling’. Junaid is survived by two sons, a daughter and a wife and Nasir by 4 kids and a wife along with their parents.
A first information report (FIR) has been filed by Junaid’s cousin brother Ismail under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including 143 (unlawful assembly), 365 (abduction), 367 (kidnapping or abducting to subject a person to grievous hurt, slavery) and 368 (wrongful confinement) against Lokesh, Rinku Saini, Srikant, and Monu Manesar. A copy of the same has been accessed by Clarion India.
The complaint says “Junaid and Nasir left the house in their Bolero around 5 am, their cousin was at a tea shop in Firozpur Jhirka when a man informed him that two men came here to have tea in the morning were assaulted and abducted by eight men and taken away in the same Bolero car.”
The complaint also noted that the complainant tried to call Junaid and Nasir but their phones were switched off and then he informed the family members.
Talking to Clarion India, Shahid, Junaid’s cousin, said “Junaid and Nasir left the house on 14 February. When we could not speak or find a trace of their whereabouts, we filed the complaint of their abduction in the local police station as we learned that they were kidnapped by the Bajrang Dal members”.
“We were told that the Bajrang Dal people also took both of them to the Haryana Police station alleging that they (Junaid and Nasir) smuggled a cow but police didn’t arrest them as they both were brutally injured, as we were told by the eyewitnesses.”
The family of the victims also refuted the claims that they were smuggling cows and said that they are in the business of stock breeding and animal husbandry.
Shahid said, “They were travelling in the Bolero, how one can take cow in that? We have a business of stock breeding but they were going to their relative’s house in their Bolero.”
A family member of the deceased informed that when they found bodies, they were burnt to the extent that they were identified with the license of the vehicle and the documents which they were carrying.
The bodies were sent for the postmortem and the family received it on Friday morning to perform the last rites. The family members of the deceased were called and they also identified the vehicle. Bodies were handed over to them after legal formalities.
The family has repeatedly mentioned the role Bajrang Dal leader Monu Manesar in the entire case.
Shahid said, “This has been done by Monu Manesar and his supporters who are members of Bajrang Dal and are found involved in such activities”.
“Monu and his gang have terrorised the area, they keep doing such things, killing and lynching people and no action has been taken against them”, he said.
Who is Monu Manesar?
Monu Manesar, one of the Bajrang Dal leaders named in the FIR, has refuted the allegations made by the family members of the deceased. On his Facebook page, he claimed “Neither my team nor Bajrang Dal Haryana unit has got anything to do with the incident that happened in Gopalgarh Police Station area in Rajasthan.”
Alarmingly, Manesar has a long history of making anti-Muslim hate speeches and calls for violence. He also gave an anti-Muslim speech during the ‘Hindu Mahapanchayat’ event in Haryana on July 4, 2021.
He has a huge following on social media and has over 2 lakh followers on YouTube and 83 thousand followers on Facebook where he shares videos related to the cow vigilantism. He and his team can be seen dragging people through their hair and brutally thrashing them.
Bharatpur Police said that they are investigating the matter; an FIR is registered against the accused at the Gopalgarh Police Station.
“An immediate action will be taken against those who are involved in the case”, said the SHO of Gopalgarh Police Station.
However, DSP Jagat Singh Loharu while speaking to the media said that it is not clear if they were burnt by someone or if it is an accident.
A few days back, a Muslim youth named Waris was also lynched to death by Bajrang Dal members in which Manesar’s involvement was alleged.
Police officials said that it was a road accident. However, before his death, a video of Waris surfaced on the internet and was posted by Manesar on his Facebook profile. After the outrage, the video was reportedly deleted.
Meanwhile, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday blamed inaction by the police for the death of two Muslim men Junaid and Nasir in Haryana’s Bhiwandi.
