A fresh incident of Cow Vigilante Group with name Sanatan Gauraksha Dal has surfaced online in which a Muslim man from Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh has been repeatedly humiliated and slapped. A video was made and shared on social media. While government doesn't take action against people taking law in their hands, the hate among communities is surely rising. Congress Member of Parliament Syed Naseer Hussain shared the disturbing video and asked for action to be taken against the vigilante group.

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A Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki district was allegedly forced by a self-described cow vigilante group to kneel before a calf in what the group characterized as an act of religious devotion, after accusing him of making offensive remarks about cows, an animal considered sacred by Hindus.
According to a video shared Saturday by a group calling itself Sanatan Gauraksha Dal, the man had allegedly made inflammatory comments about the animal. In response, the self-styled cow protection group confronted him in public. Between 15 and 20 people reportedly surrounded him, and the video shows them repeatedly striking him even as he attempted to apologize.
Members of the group also compelled him to call his father while using abusive language to threaten him, according to the video. He was then dragged to a shed, where the group forced him to kneel before a calf, touch its legs and chant a religious slogan, while members demonstrated how to prostrate before the animal.
In a social media post about the incident, the Hindutva group referred to the man and his associates as "jihadis" and claimed they had threatened to create a "Holi of blood," an apparent reference to violence. The video has circulated widely online since it was posted.

Video

After the footage began spreading, police responded on social media, asking users to share full details of the incident and file a formal complaint at the relevant station so authorities could take action. However, when asked directly about the case, a public relations officer for the Barabanki Superintendent of Police said the department was unaware of the incident, despite having addressed it online earlier.
Congress Member of Parliament Syed Naseer Hussain shared the video and condemned the incident as deeply disturbing. He said such acts constitute crimes that violate human dignity and constitutional rights rather than genuine expressions of faith. Hussain argued that vigilante groups acting with impunity to assault and humiliate citizens reflects a serious governance failure under the state's ruling party, and he called on the Uttar Pradesh government to take strict action against those involved and ensure that no one is permitted to take the law into their own hands.

“Such acts are not expressions of faith but crimes that violate human dignity and the Constitution. When vigilante groups believe they can assault citizens and publicly degrade them with impunity, it reflects a serious failure of governance under the BJP government,” Congress MP Syed Naseer Hussain wrote on X.

This is not the first incident of Muslims being targeted on religious issues but if governments fail to take action, this disturbing behavior can spiral in other regions across India.