2 Dalits Tied and Beaten in Andhra: 'Real' or 'Fake' Cow Vigilantes?

NEW DELHI: Two Dalit men were tied to a tree, stripped and flogged by a group of Cow Rakshaks in Andhra Pradesh’s Amalapuram district Monday. The charge: they skinned a dead cow.

The story is the same. The venue is Janakipeta where the owner of the cow hired Mokati Elisa and Mokati Rajam to skin his cow that had been electrocuted to dath. Acting on what these vigilantes insist is a ‘tip off they attacked the two brothers, claiming that they had killed the cow.The incident took place in Janakipeta area on Monday where owner of the cow, a farmer, hired Mokati Elisa and Mokati Rajam for skinning his pet after the animal died of electrocution, police said. However, when the group of "gau-rakshaks" (cow vigilantes) came to know about this they attacked the two brothers, suspecting that they had killed the cow. They were tied to a tried and beaten mercilessly.

The two were sustained serious injuries, and have since been hospitalised. One of them is said be critical.

The police claim to have registered a case under the relevant sections of the SC/St Act. No one has been arrested so far.

This incident is almost identical to the Una flogging, and follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assertions just recently where in Delhi he said that most of the cow rakshaks were anti social elements in the day. And then following it with another speech in Hyderabad where he urged them to shoot him first, but not shoot his Dalit brothers.

Clearly no one is listening and the cow vigilantes are carrying out business as usual. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad had virtually rejected the Prime Ministers claim of cow vigilantes being largely anti social elements, and the RSS had also stepped in saying that hs “80 percent” figure was definitely exaggerated.

PM Modi was strongly criticised by the Opposition for what almost all political leaders claimed were fake comments. Bahujan Samaj party leader Mayawati said, "Modi was silent for the last two years. He slept like 'Kumbhakarna' (the mythological character in Ramayana who slept for six months at a stretch). He has woken up now because assembly elections are going to take place in Uttar Pradesh and some other states.”

"He knew that he would not get a single Dalit vote. He gave the statements to get Dalit votes," she added.