Who is Monu Manesar, gau rakshak with govt backing, named in spate of complaints?

In a video clip on social media, Mohit said later, “The allegations that are being raised against us are baseless. No team of Bajrang Dal was at the spot where the incident took place. No member of Bajrang Dal is involved in this. The incident, as we have seen on the social media, is unfortunate. Strict action should be taken against the perpetrators and no one should be spared.”

This comes days after Mohit and his team of cow vigilantes were named in another police complaint in Tauru in Haryana’s Nuh, after a 22-year-old man, who was caught by them on the suspicion of cattle smuggling and later handed over to the police, died at a hospital. Police had said that the man died of injuries sustained in an accident after the car he was travelling in along with his two associates crashed into a tempo. After a purported video clip of a Facebook live posted on Mohit’s social media account went viral, the family of accused cattle smuggler has alleged that he was beaten up by cow vigilantes and succumbed to injuries from the assault. In the purported clip, the vigilantes could be seen questioning three accused cattle smugglers about their names and respective villages. In another video, Bajrang Dal members, one of whom is armed with a gun, are seen posing next to the three accused in front of the damaged car.

With a network of informers stretching across several districts in Haryana – including Panipat, Sonipat, Gurgaon, Rewari, Nuh, Palwal, Jhajjar among others — and activists from Bajrang Dal, the task force works in close coordination with Haryana police, often apprehending suspected cattle smugglers and handing them over to the police.

“Jab tak todenge nahi tab tak chodenge nahi (we won’t leave until we break you),” says Mohit Yadav, in several videos on his Instagram page, as he poses for pictures atop a pick-up truck with fellow cow vigilantes after a ‘raid’ by members of a taskforce against suspected cattle smugglers in Haryana.

Mohit (28), a native of Manesar, has a diploma from a polytechnic college and makes a living from rental income sub-letting rooms to labourers in Manesar area. He described himself as a ‘gau rakshak’ and social activist. In 2011, he joined Bajrang Dal as a district co-coordinator from Manesar when he was a teenager.

“I grew up around cows. Meri aasthaa hai gau maata se aur mera dharm hai inki raksha karna. [It is a matter of faith for me and it is my duty to protect the holy cow]. After witnessing atrocities against cows, I vowed to rescue them and to stop illegal cattle smuggling, which is rampant in places like Mewat [Nuh] and nearby districts,” he told The Indian Express.

Over the last decade, he has risen through the ranks to become the head of the district’s cow protection task force last year. He is also a member of the civil defence team of district administration in Manesar. In Nuh, the cow vigilante groups’ campaign has deepened the fault lines in the district with the locals accusing the vigilantes of harassment, particularly in the last one year.

“Unemployment is high in Mewat and people are uneducated, so people there see cattle smuggling as an easy source of income. But, they also indulge in cattle slaughter to hurt our sentiments. We are not saying the entire region is involved…only a small percentage of people in Mewat are complicit in this trade. In fact, there are many in Mewat who support us and are disturbed over this issue,” he added.

In May 2022, after videos of cow vigilantes forcing a man into an SUV at gunpoint and threatening locals following a tip-off regarding cow slaughter in Ferozepur Jhirka area of Nuh had gone viral, prompting some locals to declare that cow vigilantes will not be allowed to enter the district, the cow vigilante groups had organised a mahapanchayat in Nuh’s Sangel village in a show of strength. At the panchayat, Bajrang Dal members had issued an ultimatum to the state government to end cow smuggling in Nuh within a month.

Two months later in July 2022, Mohit was among the organisers of a panchayat at a temple in Manesar that had called for an “economic boycott of Muslim shopkeepers and vendors” in the area

“We do not have a problem with any community. Our fight is for the protection of cows,” he said.

His YouTube page ‘Monu Manesar Bajrang Dal’ has over 2 lakh subscribers. On YouTube and social media profiles, he frequently posts videos of high-speed chases of his team of cow vigilantes and suspected cattle smugglers. In October 2019, during one such chase in Gurgaon, he claims he was shot in the chest by suspected cattle smugglers and suffered a gunshot wound.

“After a tip-off is received that cattle smugglers are transporting cattle in a pick-up truck or a van, we inform the police and set off on our SUVs to assist them. The chase often lasts long distances across districts and the smugglers either shoot or throw cattle on the roads to escape. We share information among vigilante groups on WhatsApp and coordinate with the police. In the instance that we nab the smugglers before a police team reaches, we intimate the authorities and hand them over to the police for further probe. We have never taken law into our hands or assaulted anyone. Only those whose business of cattle smuggling we have shut down bring up such allegations,” he claimed.

With the objective of enforcing The Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Act-2015, in July 2021, the Haryana Government had notified a special cow protection task force. The government had said that gausevaks and gaurakshaks will be part of the taskforce – both at state and district level – and the taskforce will prevent illegal transportation, smuggling and slaughtering of cow progency, collect information about smuggling and slaughtering, take legal action and rescue and rehabilitate stray cattle.

Mohit said that he has no political affiliation and does not harbour any such ambitions in the future.

“I record and share videos for awareness…I have been attacked several times. Yesterday, I received a death threat from someone in Mewat, who sent a text that if I enter the district again, I will be killed. So, now I carry arms. Our team has 6-7 guns and all of them are licensed,” he claimed.

According to police sources, he has no criminal record in Gurgaon. Sources said one case was registered against Mohit in Faridabad in 2016 in a case lodged by suspected cattle smugglers, but it was later quashed after the complainant withdrew charges.

Aftab Ahmed, Nuh MLA, said, “The modus operandi of these vigilantes is to harass and threaten locals and extortion in the garb of cow protection. They frequently take law into their hands and the government seems to be supporting them. These people have been under suspicion for threatening locals here and spreading disharmony for a long time.”

Recounting an incident from last year in Sheikhpur village in Nuh, Aarif Hussain, the village lambardar, said, “Bajrang Dal members, waving guns, had barged into the village in April 2022 and fired twice in the air and misbehaved with women before abducting a man from the village into their SUV on the suspicion of cattle smuggling. The vigilantes later handed him over to the police. Only after their videos went viral, police registered an FIR in the matter, but against unknown accused. They seem to enjoy impunity.”