Meet Monu Manesar, the ‘gau rakshak’ at the centre of recent controversies

Speaking to The Indian Express, Monu denied the allegations and said, “It was an accident. We received information about the accused smuggling a cow and reached the spot. We recorded a video of the accused and then handed them over to the police.”

In the past five years, Monu, a Bajrang Dal member, has emerged as the face of the cow protection task force of the Haryana government in Gurgaon.

Who is Monu Manesar?

A resident of Manesar, Haryana, 28-year-old Monu is a diploma holder from a polytechnic college who describes himself as a ‘gau rakshak’ and social activist. He joined Bajrang Dal as a district co-coordinator from Manesar in 2011 and earns a living by sub-letting rooms to labourers in the Manesar area.

“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.

Currently, Monu is the head of the district’s cow protection force and also a member of the civil defence team of the district administration in Manesar.

Apart from this, he also runs a YouTube page, ‘Monu Manesar Bajrang Dal’, which has over two lakh subscribers and has received a silver play button from YouTube, given to creators for achieving more than 100,000 subscribers. Monu and his team of cow vigilantes often post videos of high-speed chases of suspected cattle smugglers on YouTube and other social media platforms. They also post images of the detained suspects and the “rescued” cattle.

What are the recent cases against Monu Manesar?

Apart from being named in the complaint lodged by Waris’ family, Monu has been named in an FIR filed in connection with the death of two men, identified as Junaid and Nasir, from Rajasthan, whose charred bodies were found inside a burnt vehicle in Bhiwani on February 16.

In the FIR, Junaid’s cousin, Ismail, alleged that Monu and five other Bajrang Dal members kidnapped the victims and then burnt them alive.

According to The Indian Express, another FIR has been registered against Monu regarding a separate incident that took place in Pataudi’s Babarshah colony. On February 6, a clash had broken out between two communities in the colony during which four people had suffered injuries, including a 20-year-old man who suffered a gunshot wound.

The police said, “Monu is one of the accused in an attempt to murder case registered in Pataudi.”

Last year, he also organised a panchayat at a temple in Manesar that had called for an “economic boycott of Muslim shopkeepers and vendors” in the area.