No one has right to take law in their hands: Khattar on cow vigilantes row

With the Haryana Police under fire after the abduction and killing of two men allegedly by cow vigilantes, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday said no one has the right to take law into their own hands.

"We have never given rights to private persons. We have formed Gau Task Force in districts whose incharge is the DSP, and some non-official members are also part of it so that the police can take action on the information received through the task force.

"No one has the right to take law into their hands," Khattar told reporters here when about allegations that some cow vigilantes were indulging in hooliganism in Mewat area.

On Wednesday, two Congress MLAs from the Mewat area alleged in the Haryana Assembly that some cow vigilantes are indulging in hooliganism in the name of cow protection in Mewat while claiming that the abduction-murder of two men from Rajasthan was not an isolated incident.

The family members of the deceased have alleged that Nasir and Junaid were killed after they were abducted by cow vigilantes from Haryana.

Ismail, the brother of Junaid, had alleged that the victims were taken to a police station after being assaulted, but the police personnel in Nuh refused to take them into custody.

Congress MLA Mohd Illyas had said in the assembly, "Nobody in the Mewat region is indulging in cow slaughtering. But some cow vigilantes are indulging in hooliganism and harassing innocent people."

Another MLA, Mamman Khan, had said it was not an isolated incident and there were a few cases in the Mewat region in the past too.

Nasir (25) and Junaid alias Juna (35), both residents of Ghatmeeka village in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan, were allegedly abducted by cow vigilantes on February 15 and their bodies were found inside a burnt car in Loharu in Bhiwani in Haryana on the morning of February 16.

A total of nine accused, including Bajrang Dal member Monu Manesar who runs a cow protection group, and Srikant Pandit, whose mother lodged the complaint against Rajasthan Police, have been named in the case so far.

During his interaction with the media on Thursday, Khattar also replied to questions on other issues.

When asked that Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda had suggested the state government file a "contempt of court" petition in the Supreme Court over delay in the construction of Sutlej Yamuna link canal, he said an execution order is yet to be issued for canal construction.

"The SYL issue has attained finality and if it's not implemented contempt of court should be filed," Hooda had said in the state assembly on Thursday.

Khattar told reporters that it has been decided that the SYL canal should be constructed and it will be constructed, but the execution order has not come yet.

Earlier, while presenting the budget for 2023-24, Khattar had said his government is committed to the construction of the SYL canal in order to get its due share of water from the Ravi-Beas river system and an outlay of Rs 101 crore has been proposed for this.