The self-styled vigilantes identified as Neha Patel, Nirav Patel, and Bharat Bharwad, apart from one unidentified youth, have been booked as an FIR was filed at Panoli police station.
Vishnu Dabad attributes his rise from poverty to powerful local politician to an animal: the cow. The 30-year-old is one of many Gau Rakshaks, or cow protectors: activists who have taken Indian laws banning cattle slaughter and beef consumption into their own hands since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014 at the head of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Scores of cow protectors in recent years have been accused of using violence to carry out extra-judicial activities, often finding themselves at odds with law enforcement, even as many won acclaim for defending the Hindu faith.
The local newspapers and publications close to the Sangh-BJP, like Organizer and OpIndia, ran shrill stories and commentaries decrying Nafees for his contemptible act of raping a cow, an act that was yet to be proved.