Cow vigilantes should not be allowed to act like police: K.C. Tyagi

Janata Dal (United) leader K.C. Tyagi slammed cow vigilantes on Wednesday amid an uproar over the recent killings of two persons in Haryana, saying their action is unconstitutional and no "political outfit" should be doing the work of the police.

In an interaction with PTI editors, he said no one should be allowed to take the law into their own hands and noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had echoed a similar view in 2019 when he condemned cow vigilantes for violence in the name of cow protection.

He was replying to a question over the fatal shooting of Aryan Mishra (19) allegedly by cow vigilantes following a car chase in Faridabad. A migrant worker, Sabir Malik, was also killed in Haryana's Charkhi Dadri, allegedly by a cow vigilante group, recently.

"What they are doing is unconstitutional. It is very much against our Constitution which gives us the right to liberty," said Tyagi, who recently stepped down as his party's spokesperson but remains its political advisor.

He added, "If anyone has an issue, then they should complain in police stations. How can any political outfit act like a police force?"

Mishra was shot dead on a highway around midnight on 23 August. Five people — Saurabh, Anil Kaushik, Varun, Krishna and Adesh — who allegedly chased him and opened fire were arrested on 28 August.

According to police sources, the accused, during interrogation, claimed that on the night of 23 August, they received information that some suspected cattle smugglers driving two SUVs were doing a recce of the city.

They mistook Aryan and his friends Shanky and Harshit for cattle smugglers and followed their car for about 30 km near the Gadhpuri toll plaza on the Delhi-Agra National Highway, police sources said.

On the other hand, Malik, a migrant worker from West Bengal, was beaten to death on 27 August over the suspicion that he had eaten beef. Police said they have arrested five members of a cow vigilante group for the attack.