Aryan Mishra, a 19-year-old 12th-grade student, received a phone call around 1am on August 24 from his two friends, the sons of his landlord, inviting him to join them for a late-night snack of noodles. Mishra quickly joined them in the landlord’s red SUV in a middle-class neighborhood in Faridabad, a city in Haryana state near New Delhi. As they drove through the empty streets, they were pursued by a car with a flashing red and blue beacon, which is usually reserved for government vehicles. The car with Mishra and his friends tried to speed away from the chasing vehicle, leading to a 40-kilometer chase. During the chase, Mishra was shot in the shoulder and neck, and he later died in the hospital.
The suspects in the shooting were cow vigilantes, members of a right-wing Hindu militia called the Gau Raksha Dal, who believed Mishra was Muslim. Cow slaughter is banned or regulated in most Indian states, and the vigilantes claim to protect cows, considered holy by many Hindus, from slaughter. Since 2014, there have been nearly 50 cow-related lynchings of Muslim men in India, often resulting in the deaths of innocent victims.
The incident involving Mishra has shocked and outraged the country, especially since he was Hindu, killed by other Hindus who mistook him for Muslim. The vigilantes operate under the patronage and protection of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), according to global and Indian rights groups. Despite Modi publicly criticizing vigilantes in the past, some have received support from BJP members, raising concerns about the party’s involvement in such attacks.
The recent killings of Mishra and a Muslim ragpicker, Sabir Malik, have highlighted the ongoing xenophobic attacks on India’s largest minority and raised questions about the BJP’s commitment to inclusive politics. Critics argue that the party may be facilitating such attacks to appease its Hindu supremacist base ahead of upcoming elections in key states. The continued violence by cow vigilantes reflects a troubling trend in India’s political and social landscape.