‘Not mob lynching’: Police as Gujarat man killed in attack by cow vigilantes
One of the 5 accused was involved in similar incident last year
4 min read
Within hours of the incident, an FIR was filed against the five — Akherajsinh, Nikulsinh, Jagatsinh, Pravinsinh and Hamirbhai Thakor. Banaskantha SP Akshayraj Makwana stressed the “incident is not mob lynching”. A man in his forties was killed on Thursday after he was allegedly attacked by a group of five cow vigilantes in Gujarat’s Banaskantha when he was transporting buffaloes, said police. Two of the five accused have been apprehended while search teams have been sent to Vadodara and Rajasthan to trace the other three. Police have said the incident can’t be termed as “mob lynching”, dismissing a communal angle.
The killing, which has triggered a huge outrage, comes about 10 months after another man was allegedly assaulted in a similar incident in Banaskantha. One of the men accused in Thursday’s incident was also involved in the July 2023 assault, as per officials. However, the detention order against him was quashed by the Gujarat High Court in November last year, stressing that “there is no material on record which shows that the detenu is acting in such a manner, which would become dangerous to the public order.”
On Thursday morning, Mishrikhan Baloch of Sesan Nava village of Banaskantha was accompanying another fellow villager, Hussainkhan Hajjibabukhan Baloch, to a cattle fair. As per the FIR filed following a complaint by Hussainkhan, who claims to be the eyewitness of the incident, both of them were transporting buffaloes from a cattle market.
At around 5 am, along the Deesa-Tharad road in Deodar taluka, Hussainkhan said, the accused aboard an SUV stopped them when their vehicle’s tyre got punctured. While Hussainkhan managed to escape the attackers’ blows, he told police, Mishrikhan was targeted by the five men armed with iron pipes, assaulted repeatedly, and killed.
Within hours of the incident, an FIR was filed against the five accused — identified as Akherajsinh Parbatsinh Vaghela, Nikulsinh, Jagatsinh, Pravinsinh and Hamirbhai Thakor — for the offences under sections 302 (murder), 341 (wrongful restraint), 147, 148 (rioting), 149 (common object in unlawful assembly), 506 (2) (criminal intimidation), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Labelling the incident as “mob lynching”, the Minority Coordination Committee Gujarat — a voluntary organisation that advocates for the issues of minorities — has written to the Gujarat Director General of Police Vikas Sahay, seeking compliance of the Supreme Court guidelines for preventative action against such incidents.
However, speaking to The Indian Express, Banaskantha District Superintendent of Police Akshayraj Makwana stressed the “incident is not mob lynching”. “It would require some communal aspect to term the incident as mob lynching. This incident seems to have happened because of the past incident (from July 2023) and it appears that the accused did not intend to murder but rather intimidate the deceased,” said Makwana. Jagatsinh and Hamirbhai Thakor have been detained and search is on for the rest of the accused, he added.
Police said Akherajsinh was also involved in the July 2023 assault of Umaid Baloch, another man from Sesan Nava village. He, along with two others, had beaten up the man for transporting buffaloes and had forced him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’, said officials. Videos of the attack were widely shared on social media, prompting criticism. In the clip, three men were seen taking turns to thrash a man held to the ground. One of the three men could also be seen holding a sharp knife-like weapon in his hand.
In August 2023, Makwana pointed out, a detention order was passed by the Banaskantha district magistrate against Akherajsinh under the Gujarat Prevention of Anti Social Activities Act, 1985. He was then jailed. However, the Gujarat High Court in November 2023 had quashed the detention order, observing in its order that “there is no material on record which shows that the detenu is acting in such a manner, which would become dangerous to the public order.”
According to Makwana, police had kept a watch on Akherajsinh after his release from the jail following a Gujarat High Court order but no untoward incident was reported until Thursday.
As per the police, Akherajsinh blamed the villagers of Sesan Nava for making false accusations against him in the past.
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