Faridabad boy murder: Brinda Karat accuses Haryana govt of allowing cow vigilantes to misuse law

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat met the family of Aryan Mishra, a 19-year-old boy shot dead allegedly by cow vigilantes in a car chase in Faridabad, and accused the state government of giving the vigilantes "licence" to take the law in their hands. Talking to the media after meeting Mishra's family, Karat accused the Haryana government and state police of giving a free hand to vigilantes, and demanded compensation for Mishra's family.

"We came to express solidarity with the Mishra family, my comrades from Delhi and from Faridabad, Haryana, we are all here. The murder of Aryan Mishra, a youth, was enabled by the policies of the Haryana government to give licence in the name of protecting the cow to 'gaurakshaks' (cow vigilantes) to take the law into their own hands and do what they want with it," Karat said. "It is unthinkable and unbelievable that for 30 kilometres on a road where there are CCTV cameras every few yards, they chased that car with unlicensed arms in their car. They shot him dead and then fled the scene," she added.

The CPI(M) leader alleged that "the Haryana government through its toxic policies has given permission and licence to criminals, who under the guise of protecting the cows, use it for extortion, corruption". "The police are totally involved in each and every one of these crimes. It is a shame that today in India, next to the capital, we have to hear, if he had been a Muslim, it's okay, it's a Brahmin, that's why they're raising questions," Karat said. "It's unheard of. This just shows where we are reaching as far as lawlessness is concerned," she said. The Supreme Court has recently spoken against bulldozer justice, the CPI(M) said, adding that the Haryana government is answerable for the incident.

"This is injustice in the name of protection of the cow... Let the BJP answer, let the government of Haryana answer. They don't have the time to come and pay condolences, to express sympathy, to express sorrow, that this could happen to a young boy of 18 or 19 years old, who was at the threshold of his life," Karat said. "Not a single government person has come here to express solidarity and sorrow. Where are we today? There's no humanity left. We demand full compensation. We demand a job for one of the brothers. And we demand full security for this family," she added. Later, the CPI(M) claimed in a statement that Mishra's family told the party delegation that the police called the killer "a good person" and told them the incident was "a mistake".

"The cold blooded killing by a gang of so called 'gaurakshaks' is a direct result of Haryana govt sanction and police connivance. That is why not a single government official or BJP leader has bothered to visit the family. When an innocent Hindu teenager gets killed by criminal 'gaurakshaks'”, the BJP-RSS systems have no sympathy. Shame on them," the CPI(M) said. Mishra was shot dead on a highway around midnight on August 23. Five people -- Saurabh, Anil Kaushik, Varun, Krishna and Adesh -- who allegedly chased him and opened fire, were arrested on August 28.