Rajasthan Assembly elections are around the corner. And with that, developments in the Nasir-Junaid murder case have picked pace. Clouds of doubt are looming over the Rajasthan police ever since the arrest of Gau Rakshak Monu Manesar who is an accused in the murder case.
The Gehlot government’s own MLAs like Safia Zuber have been questioning their government, asking why family members of Nasir and Junaid never got compensation like the family of Kanhaiya Lal. Residents of the Ghatmika village in Rajasthan where Nasir and Junaid lived, have accused the Congress government of pressurizing them to ‘remain silent’ and not taking action against Monu Manesar.
This shows how Congress’ vote bank is unhappy with the party with just months to go for the state polls. The Congress now finds itself in a devil and the deep sea situation. In view of this, the arrest of Monu Manesar in Haryana and then his transit remand comes as a relief for the Rajasthan government.
However, the kind of news being reported by the media quoting ‘sources’ about Monu Manesar’s alleged involvement in the murder of the duo has raised more suspicion. There is a possibility that, in order to appease the vote bank for electoral gains, such news is being ‘planted’ in the media which the Rajasthan police can hardly prove in court.
On 14 August, the Rajasthan DGP Umesh Mishra categorically stated that there was no direct involvement of Gaurakshak Mohit Yadav, known as Monu Manesar, in the alleged double murder case. It was a significant statement by the top cop, given at a time when a certain section of media and political leaders were trying to blame Monu Manesar for the Nuh violence.
Media claims Monu Manesar ‘confessed’ to planning the murder of Nasir and Junaid
Reports claim that during the interrogation by the Rajasthan Police, Monu Manesar confessed that the plan to murder Nasir-Junaid was hatched eight days before their abduction. Notably, the case of Nasir and Junaid’s kidnapping was registered on 15 February 2023. The next day, their bodies and a burnt car were found in Bhiwani, Haryana.
According to reports, Monu Manesar has ‘confessed’ that when Nasir-Junaid were picked up, they did not have a cow with them. Reportedly, the kidnappers called Monu Manesar. After this, the duo was beaten and taken to Firozpur Jhirka police station in an injured condition.
When the police reportedly refused to take both of them, the kidnappers took them to the forest and burnt them along with the car. Monu Manesar has reportedly been described as the ‘conspirator’ in this murder.
It has been claimed that a person involved in the murder had given Manesar the details of Nasir and Junaid. After this, Monu Manesar along with the other accused conspired to kidnap both of them.
Manesar being made a scapegoat to appease the vote bank?
Interestingly, all these claims are being made in the media quoting police sources. On 14 August, the Rajasthan DGP also said that the police are trying to find out whether Manesar played a role behind the scenes or not.
Sources have told OpIndia that the Rajasthan Police is under pressure to reveal the involvement of Monu Manesar in this incident. This raises the question of whether pressure is being built keeping in mind the upcoming assembly elections.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, too, has raised suspicion on the timing of the arrest. VHP working President Alok Kumar had said, “Innocent cow devotee Monu Manesar has been arrested by the Rajasthan Police, whereas some time ago the Rajasthan Police had considered him innocent. Monu, a cow devotee, has been arrested for the Muslim vote bank in the elections, which will cost him dearly.”
Islamic fundamentalists consider Monu Manesar an enemy owing to his work to prevent cattle smuggling in the area. It is notable here that the Mewat region is the hotbed of cattle smuggling. Hindu farmers, who consider the cow sacred and even depend on it for their livelihoods, suffer dearly from the rampant cattle smuggling that takes place in the region. Even after the attack by fundamentalist Muslims on the peaceful religious Jalabhishek Yatra of Hindus in Nuh, a campaign was run to put the blame on Monu Manesar.
The BJP has also suggested that Manesar could be used for appeasement politics by the Gehlot government. Rajasthan BJP spokesperson Laxmikant Bhardwaj, while talking to OpIndia, said, “The DGP has already said that Monu Manesar is not directly involved in this case. Despite this, the emergence of such claims shows that this is definitely a political matter. But the police should investigate this matter impartially. Anyway, there is going to be a change of power in Rajasthan after one and a half months. It is useless to expect justice for anyone from this government. If the BJP government comes, it will do justice.”
Will the claims about Manesar’s confession stand in court?
Supreme Court lawyer Satya Ranjan Swain told OpIndia that confessional statements under police custody are not considered evidence in court. He said, “The statement given by the accused in police remand or before the investigating officer is not valid in court. The statement can be used for investigation under Section 161 of CrPC 1973.”
It is noteworthy that under Section 161, the police investigate and examine all the witnesses and evidence in the case. During the investigation, the police also take statements of witnesses. However, the statement given to the police under Section 161 is not considered binding.
Advocate Swain said that the confessional statement given in front of the police officer cannot be used against the accused. Even if the police get the confession videographed, it will not be considered as evidence.
In such a situation, it appears that the claims made in the media have no legal justification and don’t hold water.
Notably, Monu Manesar was arrested by Haryana Police on 12 September 2023 for posting inflammatory posts on Facebook. He was presented in the court. The court had given instructions to send him to jail for 14 days judicial custody. Later he was handed over to Rajasthan Police on transit remand.
Whatever the Haryana police has done, it has done as per due legal process. And yet, a section of the public is unhappy with the Haryana Police this action, which is natural in view of the trend to obstruct agencies from doing their duty in the non-BJP ruled states.
But this does not mean that the BJP-ruled states, which believe in following the rule of law, should be judged on the basis of the attitude of the opposition-ruled states.
That Monu Manesar, in the Nasir-Junaid murder case, has escaped the law till now reflects the failure of the Rajasthan Police. The onus of answerability to charges of working under political pressure falls on the Rajasthan police in this case.
The Rajasthan Police must also know that Monu Manesar cannot be proven guilty in court on the basis of a confessional statement. And the police have not yet found direct evidence to hold him guilty, as stated by the DGP recently.
For now, the case seems to be less of an effort to get to the bottom of the alleged murder of Nasir-Junaid and more like an attempt to fuel the appeasement politics of the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in the state.
