DIMAPUR, SEPTEMBER 13 (MExN): The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has issued a statement expressing concern at what it said was the Haryana State Government’s move to put more importance on the protection of cows than tackling crime.
The AHRC statement cited statistics put out by the National Crime Record Bureau which shows Haryana as standing second in the number of complaints lodged with the police, second only to Uttar Pradesh. “That the population, in general, views police as the last resort in cases of injustice, puts the statistics in perspective,” the AHRC said.
It added that Haryana has the worst “sex ratio in India (and) is particularly notorious for crimes against women, ranging from female feticide to gang rapes and “honor” killings. It has also seen large-scale violence, including unconfirmed reports of gang rapes of commuters recently, and it took the deployment of the Army to bring the situation under control.”
Yet, the AHRC claimed that the government rather “seems to be bothered about something very different from the overwhelming injustice and violence. It is extremely concerned with the protection of cows.”
It informed that one of the very first things the state government did after assuming power was constitute a Haryana Gau Seva Ayog (Haryana Cow Service Commission). The Commission was given more teeth with the formation of a specialised Cow Protection Task Force (CPTF) within the police, with the mandate of checking cow slaughter and consumption of beef, which are crimes in the state but not across India.
The AHRC said that the commission and the cops in CPTF “have taken their jobs seriously,” which it stated is exemplified by their decision to “check the samples of Biryani, a traditional rice and meat delicacy, from hotels in Mewat area of the state, in order to enforce the beef ban.”
It also referred to media reports which “indicate that police have been even mulling making checks in private residences.” It informed that a senior officer of the state animal husbandry department “asserted that there would be more raids if they were to receive complaints.”
However, the AHRC questioned as to “what would these ‘complaints’ be like? Who would make them? These would of course be private citizens.” It further asked which section of the Indian Penal Code allows the police to enter kitchens of private citizens on “information” given by other private citizens? Further, the AHRC queried “what if the “informers” make complaints to settle personal scores, something routine in India and in the state? What if the complaint is found to be false?”
The AHRC further expressed concern at the political geography of the raids, “which were not state wide.” It alleged that “the raids targeted only Nuh, a district with significant population of Muslims, a minority in India.” Furthermore, it claimed that the raids “were conducted just before Eid-al-Adha (the festival when Muslims sacrifice animals) make them even more suspect, and hint at this being a brazen attempt to polarize communities and give rise to sectarian violence.”
Stating that “cow vigilantes have been at it for years now,” the AHRC said that “this time, however, it is not the vigilantes, but a Commission appointed by the state itself that is playing this role.”
“This does not augur well for anyone: neither the citizens being hounded by their own government, nor the Haryana state, which stands second in crime complaints in India,” it added.
The AHRC said it is time for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “rein in the state government being run by his own political party. Modi had himself said once that 80 percent of cow vigilantes are day-time-vigilantes-night-time-criminals. His understanding of the realities could help him check the actions of the state government.”
It further asked the Supreme Court of India to “look at this attack on the rule of law.”
