Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Bajrang Dal and advocate Kulbhushan Bharadwaj lodged a complaint with the Gurugram police against two Korean restaurants on July 18, 2023, alleging that the restaurants were selling beef and hurting religious sentiments of the Hindu community.
The complainants said they had watched an Instagram Reel by a food vlogger and came to know that beef was being sold there. Haryana’s cow protection law – called the Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Act of 2015 – that was introduced under the Manohar Lal Khattar government has proven to be one of the most stringent such laws. The law, that includes a wide definition of beef, if violated, would lead to a punishment of up to ten years with fine ranging between Rs 30,000 to a lakh.
The law has recorded very low conviction rates with vigilantism continuing in Haryana despite its introduction.
Advocate Bharadwaj said, “The restaurants are polluting Gurugram’s environment and hurting Hindu sentiments. If the restaurant claims that what they were selling was not beef but buffalo, then they should lodge a complaint against the food vlogger who was broadcasting otherwise on his Instagram page.”
Upon visiting restaurant Haru in South Point Mall, Gurugram, The Wire was told by its staff that a police delegation visited the restaurant to collect the samples of the meet. The chef of the restaurant, Kamal, said, “We were selling buffalo tongue, but buff is known as beef in the Korean community.” They also informed us that they are unwilling to publicise the matter until the report results are released and will probably consider action against the individual vlogger after that.
Assistant Commissioner of Police, Varun Dahiya said the result of the report is expected in the next month and a half.
