Playing with fire

Rein in vigilantes before the situation spirals out of control

To date, much of the commentary on the gau rakshak movement has centred on its communal focus and the economic disruption caused by the forced closure of abattoirs and the intimidation of dairy farmers. But the Doppler effect on public disorder caused by the imposition of a politico-religious agenda was on grim display in three separate incidents over the past week. The passive reaction of the law enforcement machinery to the serial freelance vigilantism in several northern states, especially Uttar Pradesh, presages a breakdown of law and order that could come to haunt the ruling dispensation in the long run. Over the weekend, the open assault in Delhi, in the presence of policemen, on three men transporting buffaloes highlighted the Kafkaesque nature of this campaign. Instead of arresting the miscreants, who flagged down the truck 100 metres from a police station, the police registered specious cases under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act against the victims, who were transporting buffaloes, not cows, for slaughter. As for the attackers, whom the police clearly saw beating the men, they appear to have suddenly become anonymous. Cases have been registered against “unknown persons” on a complaint filed by the driver. Meanwhile, the truck and the buffaloes, vital to the livelihood of the victims, have been seized. 

Such an incident in the heart of India’s capital city illustrates the extent to which hooliganism is being tolerated. In Jammu and Kashmir, a group of nomadic herders travelling with their animals was similarly attacked. Again, the police bore passive witness as a mob tried to break down a structure in which the women of the group had taken shelter. Eleven people were reportedly arrested, but journalists in the region attest to an unspoken diktat to the police force to respond with a light hand. Given the police establishment’s wilful inaction in such cases, it is no surprise that hooligans have been encouraged to take law into their own hands. Sunday, for instance, saw no less than a local member of the legislative Assembly lead an attack by Bajrang Dal workers on a police station in Fatehpur Sikri, Agra, to “rescue” five colleagues who had been detained for beating up a man from a minority community. 

If the police can be considered fair game, the prognosis for law and order is bleak indeed. Vigilantism is undesired in any modern society that boasts of the rule of law. When it receives quasi-official sanction from the elected government, the consequences can spiral out of the regime’s control. The lynching of a Muslim man in Dadri in 2015, led by the relatives of a politician, demonstrated the extremes to which such movements can go. Today, it is the gau rakshak; tomorrow the absurdly named “Anti-Romeo squads” could find brethren across India. It is possible that UP’s new chief minister has understood this and appointed a police chief to specifically take action against such vigilantism. Having unleashed the genie in the most lawless of states, it is worth wondering whether he will be able to bottle it up anytime soon.