Slaughter In The Name Of Cow Protection

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Following the report of the killings of five dalits, namely Sri Dayachand, Sri Virendra, Sri Tota Ram, SriRaju and Sri Kailash between 9 and 10pm on October 15, in the police chowki of Duleena in the district ofJhajjar, Haryana a joint delegation of the CPI(M) and the CPI visited the affected area on October 17 alongwith leaders of the All India Democratic Women's Association to express solidarity with the victims and toregister its strong protest and condemnation of the ghastly crime.

It was the first delegation that visited the families. Shockingly, other political parties in Haryana havepreferred to remain silent on the crime.

The members of the delegation were:
Inderjeet Singh and Raghbir Singh Choudhary (Haryana State Secretaries of the CPI(M) and CPI respectively)
Brinda Karat (Central Committee member CPI_M and G.Secy of the AIDWA)
Dr. Harnam Singh (former MLA-CPI)
Jagmati Sangwan, (President, AIDWA Haryana),
Balbir Dahiya and Ram Chandra (CPI-M).

The delegation visited the site of the killings and met the Superintendent of Police Md. Aqil, his deputyNarendra Singh, the SHO Rajendra Singh and other police personnel. The Deputy Commissioner Mahendra Singh wasin Bahadurgarh and therefore unavailable to meet the delegation. The delegation met the family members of twoof those killed, Dayachand and Virendra, in the village of Badshahpur and also a large number of people in thevillage. The delegation also attended a meeting of the residents in the village chaupal.

The Reported Incident:

On October 15, an animal skin trader, Kailash came to Badshapur village in Gurgaon district to collect aconsignment of skins of buffaloes and cows from a licensed skinner Devendra. As is the usual practice someadvance was given and the rest of the payment was to be made on delivery. Devendra's brother Virendra and hiscousin Dayachand (both skinners) hired a vehicle to take the skins to Karnal and accompanied the trader so asto be able to collect the rest of the payment. The driver of the vehicle was Tota Ram and the conductor wasRaju and they left the village at around 11 am.

The first stop was in a place called Farroukhnagar where another consignment of skins was picked up. TheDuleena chowki was en route to their destination. It is here that the killings took place. According to thepolice, the trader bought a dead cow from Farroukhnagar. The vehicle was stopped coincidentally quite close tothe chowki and the cow was skinned on the main road.

A group of people from a neighbouring village reacting to the sight got off their vehicle and startedbeating up the dalits accusing them of killing of cow slaughter and then dragged them badly injured to thepolice chowki. This was around 5 or 5.30 pm. At that time there were about five or six police personnelpresent.

Later news spread that a cow had been killed and mobs returning from a Dussehra celebration, some of themdrunk, surrounded the chowki, set up road blocks to prevent the dalits being taken out by the police and thenbeat them to death.

According to the police the mobs numbered 4000-5000. The killings took place before three sub-divisionalmagistrates, the Deputy Superintendent of Police, the SHO and about 60 to 70 police personnel who had beensent there after urgent wireless messages from the chowki. Subsequently an enquiry committee has been formedcomprising entirely of police officials, including those present at the site of the killings. At the time ofwriting this report there have been no arrests.

Preliminary Findings

The preliminary findings of the delegation are as follows:

1. The police version and role is suspect and dubious. There have been earlier occasions when the personnelin the chowki had demanded bribes from animal skin traders, on the pretext of implementing the anti-cowslaughter laws in operation in the State. The charge made on the basis of past experience by the familymembers of those killed that it was the police personnel present who first beat the dalits because theyrefused to pay the police requires consideration and investigation.

2. There are many unresolved questions regarding the skinning of the cow that ostensibly triggered theviolence. The police version that a dead cow was bought in Farroukhnagar by Kailash the trader and thenskinned on the open road is highly unlikely. The trader was interested in getting his consignment valued atabout Rs. 40,000 to the delivery destination, the two cousins were more keen to collect the payment and getback home, why should they suddenly buy a dead cow worth Rs. 200 and then stop in the middle of the road toskin it, that too near a police chowki ? Till today the police do not have the name of the person whosupposedly sold the dead cow to Kailash. If the cow was being skinned then why do the police not have theknife that was being used? All these issues require investigation.

3. It is possible that a vehicle standing near the chowki filled with animal skins attracted the attentionof passersby. It is the Viswa Hindu Parishad members and associated organisations who were directly involvedin the spreading of rumours that a cow had been slaughtered and skinned on the open road by Muslims. Thebackground is an ongoing "gou raksha' (cow protection) campaign in the area reminiscent of the one run bythe notorious Dara Singh in Orissa, that is blatantly communal and directed against Muslims. The VHP was alsodirectly involved in inciting mob violence as also in mobilizing their members to come to the chowki. Theyeven tried to scratch out the name of a Muslim police officer on the board outside the chowki..VHP membersrang up the police and warned them not to release those who had killed cows. A telephone call also came fromDelhi from someone claiming to be a "Shankaracharya" to the police with a similar warning.

The involvement of the VHP is further corroborated by the congratulatory procession organised by it thefollowing day in Jhajjar in defence of the killings and demanding that no arrests should be made. It is alsonecessary to investigate whether there are any links between this killing of dalits to the reported conversionto Islam of 33 dalit families sometime in August in two villages in Mewat.

4. The numbers of those mobilized however requires further corroboration. It is possible that the police isexaggerating the numbers to justify their lack of action. The chowki is a very small one open from all sidesand it would not be possible for a small police force to protect it in the face of aggression from a largemob. However the police is unable to explain why it permitted the build -up for four hours and why they didnot remove the dalits from the station before the situation became as ugly as it did.

5. The most shocking and disturbing aspect is the complete lack of concern of the state government. Not asingle Minister has visited the site. No compensation has been announced for those so brutally killed.

6. It is very clear that the main concern of the police at present under orders from the Government is to"defuse' the situation, a euphemism for not taking action against those involved since it would cause alaw and order situation. Thus the new code being set is that the protection of law and order is not byarresting those guilty of a heinous murder, but by not arresting them and bowing before threats of communalcriminals.

It is our conviction that there has been a complete suspension of the law of the land as far as this caseis concerned. If there have been no arrests in spite of ample evidence of those guilty, it is because of theGovernment's and the administration's soft approach towards the communalists as also because of theculpability of the police. We demand immediate arrest and prosecution for murder against all those guilty. Atimebound CBI investigation into the atrocity must be ordered. The incident provides one more reason why theVHP with its highly provocative slogans and anti-national activities should be banned and its leadersarrested. Action should be taken against all those officials present who utterly failed in their duty toprotect the innocent lives of the five dalits. Compensation of Rs. five lakhs should be given to the familiesof those killed.

Detailed report of the delegation

Solidarity with the families

The delegation visited Badshahpur in Gurgaon district where two of the victims, Dayachand and Virendra hadlived. According to the large number of people who we met at the houses of the victims, the families had thesupport of the entire village regardless of caste. We also met people of different castes at the village whowere angry at the incident. They all had the highest praise for the victims, as being extremely hardworking,helpful.

There is a large jatav community in the village. Some of them, like the two victims, earn their living byskinning dead animals. The contract for such work is given on tender by the Block Development Officer. In thiscase it was Virendra's brother Devendra who had got the year long contract for Rs. 35,000 in April this yearfor 40 villages. The delegation saw the receipt number 035 issued by the BDO. The family were very particularto show the delegation the papers to establish that the entire profession was legal and there was no questionof ever skinning a cow in the area outside the jurisdiction of the license, least of all near a police chowkilike Duleena, an hour's drive away from their own area. Devendra also has the license for skinning deadanimals from the Goushala. He told the delegation that he had accepted the work on a very low payment as asort of donation to the gaushala. The dead animals are picked up by his team of workers, brought to the landallotted for skinning by the village panchayat, the carcasses are buried by the workers after skinning, theskins are treated with a salt-based mixture and then sold. It is hard, unpleasant work and it provides acrucial service to the community with low payments and even less in terms of social recognition.

Dayachand was working with Devendra for a meager amount. We met his old parents, his wife Saroj and hisfour children. It was very moving and sad to see the older daughters, Minu and Pinky aged eight and nine,helping their mother and grandmother, carrying their young brother and sister, even while wiping their owneyes that would constantly fill up with tears. This is an extremely poor hardworking family now bereft withthe cruel killing. The victims brother Dulchand and his father Budhram, spoke of when at 3.30 in the morningof the 16th the police came knocking at their door to inform them of an "accident' that had involvedtheir son. They as well as Devendra's family were informed that the young men had been admitted to the JhajjarCivil hospital. No means of transport were provided to take the families to the hospital. Once they managed toreach there they shuttled between the chowki, the thana and the hospital, as there was no official to meetthem and inform them of what had happened. Ultimately they were directed to the morgue. Stunned, grieved,shocked they saw the brutalized, wounded bodies of their loved ones. Describing the terrible injuries hisbrother suffered, Dulchand broke down again and again. The police refused to arrange for a vehicle, leavealone an ambulance to take the dead bodies back to their village. "They treated us as though we were thefamilies of the criminals not the victims", said Jogendra who was present with the other family members.The police did not give them any papers, no copies of the FIR filed.

The savagery, the cruelty of the caste system, the inhumanity, the arrogance of the "pure uppercastes" against the "polluted dalits" was brought out in every word spoken by this young man,desperately trying to control his grief. "They gave us his body-naked. We are poor dalits that is whythey did not think it necessary to cover my brother even with an old sheet."

Young men in the crowd sitting next to us speak out. "These Hindus they make us do their dirty workand then deprive us of even a minimum of dignity" Another speaks "if they love their animals so muchlet them pick up the carcasses and bury them with full rites", yet another voice " we know this isthe VHP and the Bajrang Dal. Why don't they arrest those who brought out the procession yesterday". Thereis anger expressed, there is protest. Talk moves to organising demonstrations, there is quick agreement. Amongthose present is Smt. Ramashree, Zila Chairperson. She is distantly related to the victims. She speaks ofother cases of atrocities against dalits where the guilty escaped any punishment.

She urges the women present to join the protests being planned.

The delegation met Virendra's family. His father Rattan lal, his aged mother Ramvati, broken by grief, hiswife Lakshmi Devi and their two young sons, his brothers Devendra and Rajesh. The mother kept repeating, butmy son was so tall, so strong how could they kill him? She has not been told, that her beloved son wassurrounded and beaten to death and his head smashed in by big stones.

No Government official has visited the village, no Minister. For the Government and administration, theincident might never have occurred, these young men might never have lived.

The delegation joined a meeting taking place at the chaupal organized by local youth. They were planninghow best to help the families and to ensure that those guilty are arrested.

Meeting with the SP

Earlier the delegation had met the Superintendent of Police Mr. Md. Aqil in Jhajjar. He had not been ableto reach the chowki because of road blocs. His assessment is that the dalits were actually "presumed tobe Muslims" and that is why they were attacked. This was the opinion repeated by almost all the policepersonnel we spoke to. He gave us details of the police version, quoted in the earlier sections of thisreport. and admitted that has been no investigation about the reported buying of the cow in Farroukhnagar.

He said that the police spent time trying to ascertain the truth from the dalits and then in trying toconvince those villagers who had brought them to the chowki about the facts. According to him, the police atthe chowki were not biased as it was the ASI Dharmendra who first stated that no crime had been committed bythe dalits since it was a dead cow being skinned. He also said that the dalits had been beaten by thevillagers and then brought to the chowki, but had no answer as to why they were then not taken to thehospital? He said he was first informed about the developing situation at around 7pm when he was at theresidence of the Dy. Commissioner, Sri Mahendra Singh. They were both monitoring the situation and informedthe SDMs and other police personnel to go to the chowki.

Shri Aqil received a call from a VHP leader shortly thereafter informing him that "somecow-killers" had been caught and that the police should not release them. The delegation took this as athreat to him, but he said he took it at its face value. He also received a message from a "Shankaracharya"in Delhi but could not answer the call due to his preoccupation with the developing situation. When asked whythe police had not protected the dalits by using their firearms against the mob, he said they were heavilyoutnumbered and it would have worsened the situation. He expressed concern about the congratulatorydemonstration organized the following day. However on being asked what his instructions are from theGovernment he said to "maintain peace". We asked him directly if this meant no arrests: he indicatedthat at present his first priority was to defuse the situation, and the arrests would follow after properinvestigation.

Clearly he is under tremendous pressure not to take action against those responsible for the violence.Others told us that the mobs were shouting slogans against him and accusing him of helping those whoslaughtered cows. Perhaps it was this type of propaganda against him that prompted him to inform us that hehad taken action against those responsible for a case of cow slaughter just a few months ago. He went out ofhis way to defend the police personnel and their version. He described how the SHO had tried to protect thedalits and got badly injured on his arm, but when we met the SHO and made it a point to look for the injury,it was barely a scratch. For whatever reason, he too is involved in trying to cover up the criminal negligenceof the administration and police to prevent the killings.

At the chowki

The delegation went to the Duleena chowki where the incident occurred. This is a small brick building oftwo rooms in an open area. We took in the dreadful sight on the road just outside the chowki, of two separatebig patches of dried blood that must have flowed from the bodies of the innocents as they were being brutallybeaten to death. Present at the chowki were the SHO Rajendra Singh and other constables, Shri Naseeb Singh whoowns a petrol pump in the area and who is the President of the Jhajjar Bar Association Later the Dy.Superintendent Narendra Singh also came to the chowki.

They repeated what the SP had already stated. They added that they kept telling the growing crowd that"the men are not Muslims but Hindus.