On July 31, an Islamist mob pelted stones at a Hindu religious procession in Haryana’s Nuh district. The devotees gathered to attend the procession, which covered temples in the district. Many media reports have revealed that the attack was pre-planned, as the locals were angry over a cow vigilante joining the procession. The other trigger point is assumed to be the state government’s action against cow smugglers.
It is noteworthy that while searching documents relating to the violence, Organiser accessed as many as fifteen FIRs where the victims revealed the horrors of the day. Some said attackers were chanting Pakistan Zindabad and Allah Hu Akbar slogans.
The Outsiders role
In one such FIR, Organiser found that the miscreants who opened fire at the police officials and attacked them had their number plates from Rajasthan.
Readers should know that the region of Mewat, which takes its name after the dominant Meo jati, is spread across Nuh in Haryana, and Alwar and Bharatpur districts of Rajasthan, besides some parts of Uttar Pradesh such as Mathura. The Meo Jati, whose members claim Rajput ancestry, have almost been wholly Islamised. The region is a hub of crimes, the most prominent being cow slaughter, beef trade, and cyber fraud.
Apart from the preparations that were going on for days for the attack, the outsider’s role can also be tracked. The details in the statement confirm that the local Meo’s were not alone in the attack and were accompanied by people from Rajasthan.
Details in the FIR
A First Information Report (FIR number–400/2023) was registered at Sadar Nuh police station on August 1 by Constable Mandeep Singh. Singh was stationed in the Nuh district following the Shobha Yatra.
In his statement, Singh told the police that, following the clashes, he and another constable, Ashok Kumar were going to the police station carrying guns. As soon as he reached the village, near the houses of Islyas and others, they encountered men in bikes, with their faces covered.
They were all equipped with weapons, their TVC Apache bike collided with Singh’s vehicle, and the miscreants opened fire at them. In the meantime, around 40-50 miscreants assembled in front of the nearby shops, equipped with sticks and attacked them. One of them attacked Singh, after which he fell to the ground.
Those miscreants took the guns from Singh and Kumar and left, leaving their bikes behind. After they left, Singh found that the vehicle had a number plate from Rajasthan.
As per the FIR, they were all booked under IPC sections 148 (rioting with deadly weapons), 149 (unlawful assembly), 332 (causing hurt to a public servant), 353 (assault or force deter to a public servant), 186 (obstructing a public servant from discharging duty), 188 (disobeying orders), 342 (wrongful confinement), 395 (dacoity), 397 (robbery), 307 (attempt to murder), and sections of the Arms Act, among others.
The preparations
As per the media reports, from July 21 to 23, miscreants held meetings in parts of the city to prepare for the attack. WhatsApp groups were formed to coordinate, people were designated leaders and assigned responsibilities, and stones were gathered and assembled.
The attackers also collected glass bottles of cold drinks and fuel to use them as petrol bombs. More than 200 motorcycles were marked for use, and their number plates were painted black so that they would not be identified by police in any footage.
Ahead of the procession, Islamists took shelter in the hills with weapons and stones. These miscreants stayed there the whole night near the Nalhar temple, the focal point of the procession.
What triggered the violence?
According to the police, a religious procession, ‘Brij Mandal Jalabhishek Yatra’, which was flagged off from Gurugram’s Civil Lines by BJP district president Gargi Kakkar, was stopped by a group of men near Khedla Mod in Nuh.
Media reports have claimed that a cow vigilante, Monu Manesar shared a video stating he will attend the Yatra no matter what Meo’s think of him. Manesar shared the video almost ten days before the Shobha Yatra.
Manesar, whose real name is Mohit Yadav, is a Bajrang Dal leader and head of its ‘gau rakshak’ dal in the state and a social media influencer.
He is a hated figure among the Meos for his ‘gau raksha’ activities where he and his team chase and intercept vehicles suspected of carrying stolen or smuggled cattle for slaughter. Nuh is a notorious hub of cow slaughter and beef trade.
Manesar was also named as a suspect by the family of victims in the infamous Nasir-Junaid murder case.
Nasir and Junaid, both Meo and residents of Ghatmika village in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan, were found burnt to death in Loharu in Haryana’s Bhiwani district. Their families accused ‘gau rakshaks’ of their murder, naming Monu Manesar as one of the suspects.
In their investigation, the Rajasthan Police did not name Manesar as a key accused but have named him in the chargesheet for a larger investigation.
After news of Manesar’s possible visit to Nuh spread, residents planned an attack on him. Social media is rife with videos and posts where Meos left death threats for Manesar and his Bajrang Dal team a day before the procession.
A resident of Pakistan, who falsely described himself as living in the Mewat region in India name ‘Ahsan Mewati Pakistani’ on his YouTube account is also considered a key instigator in the violence.
In one of the videos posted a day before the procession, Ahsan can be seen telling Meo residents of Mewat — called Mewatis — to beat up Hindus to teach them a lesson.
He says, “This Monu Manesar is coming to Mewat. He should be killed. Why are Mewatis so scared? These Hindus should be beaten and taught a lesson.”
He further abuses the Hindu community and says Muslims are not scared to even slit throats.
“If Monu enters Mewat, then kill him. Either kill or get killed. If you die, you will be called a martyr and get Jannat,” he says, and adds, “Hindus shiver when they see the tip of a sword. But we Meos cab stab and slash without fear.” (Watch the video here)
Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Act
Considering the history of crime in the region involving cow smuggling and beef trade, the Manohar Lal Khattar government, within a year of assuming office, passed the HGSG (Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan) Act in November 2015 to stop cow slaughter and smuggling and ensure the welfare of cattle in the state. Under clauses of the Act, cow trafficking, slaughtering and possessing or consuming beef were prohibited.
However, after four years of the implementation of the act, the conviction rate in these cases remained zero. In March 2019, Justice Mahabir Singh Sindhu of the Punjab and Haryana High Court was hearing an anticipatory bail plea of an accused booked under the act. The accused, Israil, had a first information report (FIR number 432 dated 13 June 2017) filed against him more than nine months ago at Nuh Police Station but was not arrested to date.
Coming heavily against the inaction on the part of the police, Justice Sindhu observed, “This shows that there is a complete inaction on the part of the police of District Mewat or deliberately the accused are let go, or there is a question mark for registration of these cases,”
Justice Sanhdu also asked the DGP to provide details of all cases registered under the act so far and the action taken against the culprits.
In April 2019, DGP Haryana, Manoj Yadava submitted a report stating a threat to their lives while working against cow smugglers. As per the report, around 800 cases were filed under the act but not even a single person was convicted.
The findings of the report are listed here:
- From 2015 to 2019 as many as 792 FIRs were registered under the act out of which the accused were arrested on the spot in only 96 cases. In the rest of the 696 cases, the accused managed to escape.
- Following the FIRs as many as 2156 accused were booked under the Act but only 1194 had been arrested. While 236 were arrested on the spot, 958 were arrested later on. In 386 cases, no arrests of the 856 accused were made.
- Only 13 cases went to court, but even then, not a single person was convicted. As many as 17 were acquitted.
Later, Justice Sanhdu asked the DGP to present an affidavit regarding inaction or zero conviction against the accused booked under this act. Following the affidavit, the bench issued some suggestions to the police teams.
Other than cow smuggling, what makes Nuh a notorious region is its significant shift in demography over time. The district is home to as many as 80 per cent of the Muslim population, mostly from Meo Jati, with recent Rohingya settlements. As per a report by SwarajyaMag, a Rohingya Muslim settled in a refugee camp in Delhi shared his journey from Myanmar to India. He shared how Rohingyas are moved to India via the Bengal border and shifted to different parts of the country. The prime suggestions for them remain Jammu or Mewat.
The Demography of Nuh
As per the census 2011 data, Nuh Tehsil of Mewat district has a total population of 287,101 as per the Census 2011. With 219,716 Muslims in the district, the Islamists made up a fair 77 per cent of the total population. On the other hand with 66,285 Hindus the Hindu population makes up 23 per cent of the total population. Forced conversion, cow smuggling, abduction, drugs, and murder are some of the many crimes that are rampant in the area.
Five tehsils of the Mewat region that fall in Haryana comprised more than a million Muslims in 2011. Their population share rose from 62 per cent in 1971 to 75 per cent in recent years. The report published by the Centre for Policy Studies reads, “From the data, it is clear that the Muslims of Mewat have numerically flourished in the period following Independence. And, they seem to be in the process of establishing an exclusively Muslim pocket in the near future.
What is Brijmandal Shobha yatra?
Since portion Mewat has remained the hotbed of Islamic conversion and gave birth to ‘Tabiligi Jamaat’. Over the period, Hindus from different communities kept converting be it for a certain kind of allurement or for some other political or local pressure. Even the police were forced to work under pressure in the region.
Considering the decline in Hindus and rising Islamic radicalisation, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad decided to take out a procession, the ‘Brij Mandal Shobha Yatra’ wherein they decided to visit the temples in the Mewat region that are losing significance. The Yatra started three years ago. The Yatra is also called as Mewat Darshan Yatra.
As per the reports, the Yatra starts from Sohna where thousands of people enter Mewat. The journey begins by doing Jal Abhishek in the Nalhard temple, later they move to Jhirkeshwar Mahadev and then the devotees travel to the village Shrigar. In the village, they visit the Shrigar Radha Krishna temple and finally move to Shringeshwar Mahadev.
All these temples date back to the Pandav era and they were losing significance as Hindu devotees were afraid of visiting an Islamic region like Mewat.
This year, two security personnel and four civilians lost their lives in the attack. VHP while speaking with Organiser called it a terrorist attack and demanded an NIA probe. Well, the question remains after what happened this year, will VHP take out the procession again?
Readers should also know that a permanent Rapid Action Force, which is a specialised riot-control wing of the CRPF, will now be stationed in Haryana’s notorious conflict-prone zone Nuh.
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