Aryan Mishra’s murder: Licence to kill

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Aakriti Anand & Raghav Bikhchandani

The Big Q: Can Kamala Win?

Welcome to our new news show titled ‘The Big Q’. In each episode, we take up one big question and look for answers. As with splainer, we’re trying to understand the world a little bit better—and have a good laugh. It’s more light-hearted than our usual Big Story—but without sacrificing substance. Please take a look and let us know what you think. As with all new projects, it’s Work In Progress.

The first episode tackles the big question on the planet’s mind: Can Kamala win—and save the United States—nay the planet—from a Trump sequel? More important: how the Dems win. This US presidential election is no longer about policy or even politics—but the fab edit! The campaign has turned the extended Harris-Walz khandaan into a feel-good meme. That’s great for TikTok, but is it good for democracy?

Watch the first episode below—and be sure to follow us on YouTube to catch the next instalment.

Aryan Mishra’s murder: Licence to kill

The context: For the past decade, so-called gau rakshaks have been beating—and often killing Muslims—on the pretext that they are smuggling beef/cattle. These kinds of crimes are committed with such impunity that some vigilantes behave like influencers—sharing clips and images such as these:

That’s Rocky Rana—who has 93,000 followers on Facebook. The most famous ‘cow protector’, however, is Bajrang Dal thug Monu Manesar—who is suspected of abducting and killing two Muslim men in 2023. He remains at large—and popular—to this day:

The killing of Aryan Mishra: On August 23, the 19-year-old high school kid in Faridabad was shot and killed by cow vigilantes. The men were on the prowl for cow smugglers. Mishra was in a car with friends—two young men and two women. When the gang tried to stop the car, they panicked and speeded away. This results in a car chase over 50 kilometres—during which Mishra was shot twice:

The vigilantes fired at the SUV near Gadpuri toll plaza, breaking the rear window and hitting Mishra, who was seated next to the driver, in the neck. Harshit Singh stopped the car, and the vigilantes then fired again hitting Mishra in the chest… Police said the remaining occupants of the Duster raised their hands. The vigilantes realised they had shot the wrong person and fled the scene after seeing two women in the vehicle.

The arrests: Five men have been arrested—including main accused Anil Kaushik—who leads a “cow protection group” called ‘Live for Nation’—with over 25,000 subscribers on YouTube. Yes, he’s a wannabe Rocky Rana—and this certainly wasn’t his first outing as a gau rakshak thug. As Mishra’s brother points out: “You don’t chase an unknown person for 30 km without having done it earlier. They fired twice… broke past barriers. They knew this would be captured by cameras.”

Not all Hindus? One of the gau rakshaks’ claim to legitimacy is that they reflect popular opinion in North India. True or not, those sentiments are not shared by Mishra’s parents. His mother told reporters: "They shot him thinking he was a Muslim. Are Muslims not our brothers? Why would you kill a Muslim? Muslims protect us." Watch her speak below:

As for Kaushik, he now “regrets killing a Brahmin.”

FYI: The Mishras are devout Hindus—who support cow protection—but not “illegality” in its name.

Licence to terrorise: In 2017, the Haryana government decided to ‘certify’ gau rakshaks—and in 2021, it set up a Special Cow Protection Task Force Committee (SCPTFC). Anil Kaushik was a member of this task force. The police claim the role of these gau rakshaks merely act as informers—passing on tips on cattle smuggling—and are not authorised to carry firearms. But the vigilantes themselves tell a different story:

[F]our gau rakshaks from Sirsa and Fatehabad districts independently claimed there are over 15,000 cow vigilantes active in the state…“We do everything for the police, right from setting up barriers to check the smuggling of cows, and chasing vehicles or traffickers, to bringing them to book by handing them over to the police,” said a gau rakshak from Sirsa. These gau rakshaks also said that they cultivated networks of informants and were issued special I-cards that helped them bypass police checkposts and the like while “chasing” cow smuggling suspects.

The BJP-led Haryana government passed strict laws banning beef slaughter and consumption in 2015—which has since offered legitimacy to this gau rakshak mafia. Irony alert: Actual convictions under these laws are rare.

Reminder: The Haryana elections are slated for later this year. The BJP-led government is losing political ground after two terms in power.

Reading list

Hindustan Times and Indian Express offer the best reporting on Aryan Mishra’s murder and the police response. Indian Express has more on the Mishra family—while The Print flags the tension between their support for cow protection and anger at their son’s death. The Print also has more on Haryana government’s patronage of cow vigilantes.

A secret Russia-India trade channel

According to confidential Russian documents—seen by the Financial Times—New Delhi may be indirectly funding Moscow’s war effort. It shows that Russia has been secretly buying “sensitive” dual-use technologies—goods with both civilian and military applications. Many of these are subject to US sanctions—that punish any country supplying such materials to Russia:

Moscow’s industry and trade ministry … drew up confidential plans in October 2022 to spend about Rs 82 billion ($1 billion at the time) on securing critical electronics through channels hidden from western governments. The plan … aimed to use “significant reserves” of rupees amassed by Russian banks from booming oil sales to India. It saw India as an alternative market to source crucial goods “previously supplied from unfriendly countries”... Moscow even envisaged pumping investment into Russo-Indian electronics development and production facilities, according to the leaked files.

There is no indication as to whether Russia followed through on its plans. But, but, but: “India’s total exports to Russia in 2023 surged by 40% to exceed $4 billion, largely driven by engineering goods, which nearly doubled to $1.32 billion in 2023 from $680 million in 2022.” We recommend reading the Financial Times (splainer gift link) investigation.

Paralympics update: India ascends to 24!!!

Our best ever Paralympics showing keeps getting better—we have now won 24 medals and rank 13th in the overall table. The official tournament website has more on the winners and the medal count—which now sits at five gold, nine silver, and ten bronze.

Club throw domination: India secured both the gold and the silver medals in men’s club throw F51—denoting para athletes with spinal injuries. Dharambir topped the lot with an Asian record throw of 34.92 metres, while Pranav Soorma came a close second with 34.59 metres. You can check out Dharambir’s effort below.

And see Soorma’s throw below.

Five-star Harvinder: The other gold medal of the day came from Harvinder Singh in men’s individual recurve archery, as he improved on his bronze in Tokyo by winning five consecutive matches—including a dominant 6-0 victory over Poland’s Łukasz Ciszek in the final. Check out his gold-clinching effort below.

Kya Khilari hai Sachin: Sometimes, it’s all in the name—if you’re Sachin Sarjerao Khilari, that is. The 34-year-old from Maharashtra won a silver medal in his shot put category with an Asian record throw of 16.32 metres. Check it out below.

A good read: Washington Post (splainer gift link) has a lovely profile of Morteza Mehrzadselakjani, the world’s second-tallest man at over eight feet, and a dominant force in Iran’s Paralympic sitting volleyball team.

No, phones don’t cause brain cancer

That’s according to a new WHO-backed study—“the most comprehensive review to date” of observational studies published between 1994 and 2022. It’s definitive conclusion:

The review found no overall association between mobile phone use and cancer, no association with prolonged use (if people use their mobile phones for 10 years or more), and no association with the amount of mobile phone use (the number of calls made or the time spent on the phone).

The most telling bit of data: “even though mobile phone use has skyrocketed, brain tumour rates have remained stable.”

Why this matters: In 2011, WHO classified radio frequency radiation or radio waves as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” This includes everything from mobile phones to laptops, baby monitors, and radars. Point to note: this report only focuses on brain cancer. (The Guardian)

The real health hazard: posed by mobile phones has nothing to do with technology—and everything to do with human behaviour. According to a new study, using mobile phones while driving resulted in 4X more fatal road accidents than red light jumps on Indian highways in 2022. Taken together, “driving on the wrong side of the road, driving under intoxication, and driving using mobile phones collectively contribute to nearly 10% of deaths on India’s highways.” Speeding remains the biggest culprit—causing 75% of fatalities. NDTV has more national and state highway stats. (The Telegraph)

Say goodbye to your reading glasses

The definitive symbol of ageing—reading glasses—may soon be history thanks to new eye drops called PresVu. It is similar to its US cousin Vuity launched in 2022. This is how it reduces near-sightedness or presbyopia:

PresVu works by temporarily improving the flexibility of the eye’s lens, which deteriorates with age. When applied, the eye drop stimulates the muscles around the lens, helping it to change shape more easily and focus on nearby objects.

The eye drop contains 1.25% pilocarpine hydrochloride that has been used to treat various eye conditions like reducing eye pressure. The product goes on sale in October for Rs 345 per vial—which can last up to a month. (The Print)

what caught our eye

business & tech

Say hello to the ‘Make [Alcohol] in India’ initiative—the government wants to promote Indian brands in the global market and will ship Rs 8,000 crore (80 billion) worth of alcohol beverages in the next few years.
Sony’s online shooter game ‘Concord’ has been an unmitigated disaster—it will be taken offline on Friday, just two weeks after its launch.
Volkswagen is in a battle with its own union workers over proposed spending cuts—the automaker had said it would consider closing some of its plants in Germany.
Brace yourself for a potentially “simplified” revamped Snapchat, featuring… more sponsored content on its ‘Maps’ page.
Oprah Winfrey plans to host an hour-long sales pitch televised special to talk about AI—with a guest list that boasts the biggest AI boosters, Sam Altman included. Watch the trailer here.

sports & entertainment

The David Fincher-Netflix jodi continues, but not for another season of ‘Mindhunter’—his next project will be a crime thriller called ‘Bitterroot’.
Film director Peter Brook’s seminal adaptation of ‘The Mahabharata’ returns to the Venice Film Festival 35 years after its premiere, thanks to a restoration spearheaded by his son, Simon.
Pop sensation Sabrina Carpenter has topped the Billboard 200 chart with her new album ‘Short N’ Sweet’.
The US Open will finally have an American in the men’s singles final after 18 years. Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz will compete in the semifinals for that spot.
Despite recent underperformance on the field, Mumbai Indians remain the kings of IPL brand value. But, but, but: the league as a whole has seen its valuation decline in the past year, a new study has revealed.
The Guardian has a good read on how nepo babies have started “going rogue”.

as for the rest

A Russian missile strike has killed over 50 people and injured 200 in the Ukrainian city of Poltava. Meanwhile, the exodus of ministers from the Volodymyr Zelenskyy government continues—foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba is the latest to resign.
The recent floods in Gujarat were worsened by extensive urban development, altered elevations and compromised drainage patterns, researchers at IIT Gandhinagar said.
An investigation has revealed that WhatsApp accounts with Indian sim cards and IP addresses in Pakistan, Nigeria and Hong Kong would impersonate public figures—like Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and government ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Kiren Rijiju—in order to conduct scams.
According to a new report by MakeMyTrip, more Indians are taking multiple foreign trips per year, with less mainstream destinations like Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan increasing in popularity.
The solar system’s largest moon—Ganymede—was shifted by the impact of a giant asteroid around 4 billion years ago, a new study has revealed.
New York Times (splainer gift link) has a good read on how to eat in order to live a long and healthy life.
Jamie Ducharme in TIME Magazine examines whether ‘text therapy’—as opposed to in-person sessions—actually works.
Kassia St. Clair in the Washington Post (splainer gift link) sheds light on how brown is the new colour of luxury.

Three things to see

One: Wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat have signed up to contest the upcoming assembly elections in Haryana as Congress party candidates. They’ve joined hands with Rahul Gandhi… literally, as you can see. (NDTV)

Two: After premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in June, ‘The Apprentice’—the Donald Trump biopic directed by Ali Abbasi—finally has a release date: October 11. We also have this clip from the movie—with Sebastian Stan as a younger Donald, and Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn—along with a kickstarter campaign to keep the film in theatres for as long as possible. You can watch the short and surprisingly dull clip below. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Three: Also in movie clips: this snippet from Luca Guadagnino’s upcoming film ‘Queer’ starring Daniel Craig in an unusual avatar. The film got an 11-minute long standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival during its world premiere. We smell an Oscar. While there’s no release date yet, you can watch the clip below. (The Hindu)

feel good place

One: The best throwback Thursday clip ever! FYI: The song is called ‘Akira Kurosawa’—from the 2009 movie ‘Chintu Ji’ (yes, that’s Rishi Kapoor). We highly recommend watching the OG music vid here.