The most recent and a rather gruesome incident occurred on August 23 when a Class 12 student from Faridabad, Haryana was chased and shot dead by a group of cow vigilantes. The victim, a boy identified as Aryan Mishra, was lynched on the suspicion of being a smuggler of cows.
This happened along Delhi-Agra National Highway near Gadhpuri where Aryan along with his friend Shanky were travelling in a Renault Duster car. The cow vigilantes, after receiving an information that cattle smugglers were active in the area, and they were using Renault Duster and Toyota Fortuner cars, saw the car parked at Patel Chowk and tried to intercept it. But Aryan and his friends did not stop the vehicle, as they thought that they were chased by the rival group because of some old enmity related to Shanky.
The five vigilantes were named as Anil Kaushik, Varun, Krishna, Adesh and Saurabh who followed the car for about 30 km before firing shots. Aryan hit a bullet on the side of his neck.
When the car stopped, the vigilantes fired again because they felt that the occupants could attack them. It was only when the two realized their mistake and saw two women in the car that the vigilantes left the scene.
Aryan was taken to a nearby hospital, but he died from the injuries the next day. The weapon that was used in the attack was established to be prohibited, and all five suspects are still detained by the police as the inquiries go on.
The Haryana police have arrested the accused and are investigating the matter to the best of its abilities.
In a similar but slightly different vein, the Haryana police recently arrested the eighth suspect in a lynching of a migrant worker from West Bengal who was killed on the suspicion of having eaten beef.
