THE ASIAN INDEPENDENT UK
Bal Ram Sampla
Geopolitics
The recent assault on Parameshwar Suhas Hiwale in Jalna, Maharashtra, is a stomach-churning reminder of how deep hatred runs when bigotry is allowed to mask itself as moral duty.
A man was traveling with his young son after buying a bull, carrying legitimate paperwork for a legal transaction. Yet, self-proclaimed cow vigilantes intercepted him, ignored his legal documents, subjected him to brutal physical violence, hurled casteist abuse, and forced him to eat cow dung, all while filming the degradation for their own twisted amusement.
This was not a mistake or a misguided attempt to protect animals. It was a calculated, sadistic display of caste supremacy and mob rule. The attackers did not care about the law or the papers in Hiwale’s hands. They cared only about asserting dominance over a Dalit man and terrorizing his family. Forcing dung into a father’s mouth in front of his eleven-year-old child is an act of pure cruelty designed to strip away basic human dignity.
What makes this incident even more intolerable is the culture of impunity that enables it. The vigilantes were so confident in their immunity that they filmed the assault and used it to threaten the victim into silence. It took months, and the public humiliation of the video going viral on social media, for a formal police complaint to finally be registered.
When self-appointed mobs are permitted to roam the streets, act as judge and jury, and inflict barbaric cruelty on vulnerable citizens, society fails fundamentally. The perpetrators of this depraved act must face the absolute maximum penalty under the law. Anything less sends a green light to violent mobs that violence, torture, and caste-based terror can be committed in broad daylight without consequence.
Source:
1.https://m.thewire.in/article/rights/cow-vigilantes-in-maharashtra-allegedly-assault-dalit-man-force-him-to-eat-dung/amp?hl=en
2.https://theprint.in/india/cow-vigilantes-accused-of-assaulting-dalit-man-in-maharashtras-jalna-forcing-cow-dung-into-his-mouth/3026794/?hl=en-
