An MBA from Australia, Neha Patel now leads violent cow-vigilantes in Gujarat

On August 7, Anil Gamit, a resident of Mangaldev village in Gujarat’s Tapi district, was returning to his village with nine buffalo calves in a pick-up truck with another person named Dashrat Nayak. Gamit had purchased the calves in the Dang district. As they were nearing the village, a group of people led by a woman stopped their vehicle and asked them to explain why they had been carrying the calves. Sensing trouble, Dashrat escaped from the spot. Hours later, he went back and found Anil severely injured.

It was later revealed that Anil was attacked by the group with wooden sticks and sustained multiple fractures on his right leg. The group that stopped Anil and Dashrat called themselves ‘gau rakshaks’ (cow vigilantes). On August 9, Songadh police arrested ten people for rioting and assault. Among them was Neha Patel.

Neha Patel, a rather unusual figure in the predominantly male bastion of cow vigilantism, is the founder of a registered organisation called ‘Pranin Foundation’. The organisation’s official Facebook profile primarily focuses on sharing visuals and regular updates on ‘rescues’ of injured cows, with occasional posts featuring other animals. Neha’s personal Facebook page features videos showcasing the ‘raids’ and high-speed chases she and her team unleash in the name of ‘gau raksha’. Notably, the videos are remarkably similar to those shared by the now-jailed Monu Manesar, possibly the most well-known figure in north India’s cow vigilante circuit.

Neha got out on bail after spending over 30 days in judicial custody in the Tapi assault case.

Who is Neha Patel?

A resident of Vadodara, Gujarat, Neha Dwarkesh Patel did her MBA from the Southern Cross University in Australia and returned to India around 2007. As per the Pranin Foundation website, she started rescue work for animals in general and cows in particular in 2009 and officially registered the organization in June 2014.

Her Facebook profile says she is also the managing trustee of Shri Swami Vivekanand Vidhyalaya in Vadodara. She is also the secretary of Vadodara SPCA (Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) — an organization registered with the Gujarat State Animal Welfare Board.

In an interview with womenpla.net eight years ago, Neha revealed that she had a comfortable childhood but when she decided to go abroad to study, her father paid the fees for only the first term of her course, and the rest she managed herself by doing odd jobs.

Neha is also one of the admins of the Facebook page Jay Modiraj, which has a following of over 1.4 million and has garnered more than 1.3 million likes. Established in 2012, the page advocates an anti-Muslim narrative, promotes the BJP as the only political party dedicated to the interests of the majority, and disseminates misinformation. Alt News had done a detailed report on the same in 2018. In 2016, after the Una incident, where four Dalit youths were flogged and paraded half-naked under the suspicion of cow slaughter by self-appointed ‘gau rakshaks’, Neha Patel appeared on TV news channels to present the side of ‘gau rakshaks’ in the prime-time discussions. There, she claimed that the four victims had not been assaulted by ‘gau rakshaks’. The Facebook page reshared her post referring to her as one of the admins.

In December of 2022, she posted images of a gathering of members of the Jay Modiraj page following the BJP’s victory in the Gujarat assembly elections. The caption said: “A lot of members are missed. 2014 Core Team Volunteers. Modi ji had seen our hard work and then met us at the Delhi PM office. JAY MODIRAJ (“जय मोदीराज”) team meets to celebrate landslide victory in Gujarat and on mission mode for the upcoming Lok Sabha election 2024.”

As she mentioned in the above post, she did meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016 along with other members of the Jay Modiraj page.

YouTube Channel Terminated

Neha had a YouTube channel with over 86,000 subscribers and around 17 million views. 206 videos had been published on the channel before it was terminated by YouTube on December 22, six days after Alt News flagged the channel for multiple policy violations in the content, comprising physical assaults, vigilantism & graphic animal abuse.

On October 31, 2023, after being released on bail, Neha released a video on her YouTube channel with a title in Hindi which said: “The fact that we were jailed for 40 days is atrocity, misuse of law, casteism is a terrible disease”. In the video, speaking in a calm and empathetic manner, she presents her version of the ‘truth’ behind her arrest. Patel states how the ‘desh-virodhi’ media (media outlets that are against the nation) tarnished their image and how the fact that Neha’s group had first filed an FIR against Anil Gamit was overlooked. Later, her group was booked under the atrocity act, she complains. She goes on to explain that the case had nothing to do with the Atrocity Act and was rather a ‘gau rakshak’ vs ‘gau taskar’ situation (cow protectors vs cow smugglers). However, she doesn’t address or deny the allegation that Gamit was found in a severely injured state after allegedly being beaten up.

Cow Vigilantism

In an interview with YouTuber Pushpendra Kulshrestha, Neha Patel makes the point that her educational qualifications helped her establish herself in the field of cow vigilantism. The men in her team, who were already working separately, would often run into trouble with police, who would often dismiss these men, attributing their involvement in work in vigilantism to unemployment. However, once they started working under Neha, the police did not have any objection.

At the 11:23 mark of the interview, Neha states that she established the rule that her team members would not resort to physical violence when dealing with individuals. However, in her subsequent statement, she rationalizes the use of violence by attributing it to ‘men being men’ (“Ladke hain“) and ‘common sentiment of Hindus’ (“Hum Hinduyon ki common sentiment hain“).

In the pictures that Neha personally posts on her Facebook page following a successful ‘operation,’ her team can be seen brandishing wooden sticks.

The following videos clearly show the men using sticks to strike the vehicles they are pursuing, in an attempt to stop them. There are several clips which show captured individuals being assaulted with lathis. During the Tapi incident in August, police revealed that Neha’s team had used wooden sticks to assault Gamit.

Video 1:

On November 17, 2022, a 9.30-minute-long vlog was shared on Neha’s now-deleted YouTube channel, in which she and her team are following a four-wheeler suspected of transporting beef. When the vehicle gets stuck in traffic, Neha’s men takes control of the situation. As soon as the Pranin team’s car stops, men wielding wooden sticks can be seen running out of the car to catch the driver of the four-wheeler. At the 0:28 mark of the vlog, the driver, whose name — as mentioned in the description section of the YouTube video — is Sarfaraz alias Batiya, is seen on the ground with Neha’s men with sticks in their hands tackling and hitting him. Neha Patel also shared images from this ‘operation’ on her Facebook profile. One of the images shows the driver, Sarfaraz, being assaulted with a lathi.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Video 2:

Neha Patel and her men along with the Surat police raid a slaughterhouse on March 11, 2022. At the beginning of the vlog, her team can be seen entering with a few uniformed policemen. When the butchers try to escape, both the police and Neha’s men stop them and the policemen can be seen hitting the butchers with wooden sticks. At the 2:14 mark of the video one person from Neha’s team with a wooden stick in his hand joins the policemen to hit the two butchers. Further in the vlog, Neha herself takes the role of interrogating the two butchers while one of her men holds the butchers down to the ground and the policemen can be seen standing nearby. At the 3:19 mark, Neha could be seen kicking one of the two butchers while interrogating him.

Video 3:

This vlog from December 11, 2021, opens with a high-speed chase where Neha and her team hunt down a truck carrying cattle. They chase the truck while occasionally ramming it with their own vehicle in an attempt to overturn it. At the 5:54 mark, their efforts succeed causing the pickup truck to topple over sideways onto the road. Immediately afterwards, Neha’s men could be seen jumping onto the truck, shattering its windshield, and forcibly taking out the individuals inside, all the while threatening and hurling abuses at them. Despite police presence at the scene, Neha’s associates constantly show physical aggression towards the individuals they apprehend. Their actions include striking and restraining one of the individuals in a chokehold.

From Treating Injured Animals to Cow Vigilantism

Neha says in her interview with Pushpendra Kulshrestha that upon her return to India, she noticed that animals around her were facing issues, falling ill without immediate assistance. Disappointed with lack of response from NGOs, she began personally transporting ailing animals to veterinarians. Learning through observation, she acquired veterinary skills. Consequently, whenever she encountered an injured animal, she would treat it on the spot, even administering injections and starting IVs before delivering them to shelters. Her name quickly spread, and people began actively seeking her contact. This marked the inception of her ‘Jeevdaya’ (animal care) initiative.

Her journey into cow vigilantism commenced one night during her travel to Ahmedabad when she intercepted a buffalo-carrying truck, having previously read about ‘gau raksha’ incidents involving such vehicles in newspapers. Her name quickly gained recognition, with people, including some from the Muslim community, sharing information about slaughterhouses. She proudly states how she financially assisted people to buy cows.

In the same YouTube interview, Neha mentions that she initially operated locally, using Facebook to broadcast her activities. Gradually, she attracted attention from various cities in Gujarat and expanded her network to Godhra, Surat, Panchmahal, Valsad, and Navsari. When we went through her YouTube channel before it was taken down, we found that her team had been active in at least 16 cities in Gujarat. And in partnership with Agniveer, the Pranin Foundation extended its network of vigilantism to other states such as Maharashtra and Telangana. Teams in those states adopted similar tactics to Neha and her Gujarat-based team, and these incidents were featured on Neha’s YouTube channel.

Involvement with the VHP

On December 25, 2023, Patel was invited as the chief guest to an event organised by the Vishva Hindu Parishad in Nangaon Peth village in Amravati, Maharashtra. Patel shared pictures from the event on her Facebook page. According to the post, in her speech, Patel raised her concerns about cow slaughter and affirmed that they would continue to take strong stand against it, as they had done in the past. She also emphasized the fact that the Hindu society should actively contribute to the cause of cow protection as saving ‘Gau-Mata’ was the ultimate duty of the Hindus. Bajrang Dal honoured her with a grand reception.

In the pictures, it can be seen that Kajal Shingala, better known as Kajal Hindusthani, was also present at the event. Kajal, a prominent name in the Hindutva ecosystem, describes herself as ‘a fearless lioness from Gujarat’. She frequently takes part in meetings organized by Hindutva outfits where hate speeches are openly delivered against the minorities.

As a matter of fact, Patel’s relationship with the VHP goes way back.

In one of her Facebook posts from 2013, she shared details of a Durga Vahini camp — place, date, fees, and activities. She also commented that she had attended many of these camps when she was younger. Durga Vahini is the women’s wing of the Hindutva outfit Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). Young girls are given “self-defence” training in these camps, which includes rifle shooting.

As a youth, Neha was actively involved with the VHP. This is evident from her social media posts, which include photographs of her meetings with VHP central secretary Vireshwar Diwedi. Some of the photographs she posted date back to 2002 as mentioned by her in the comments section of one of the photos.

Close Association with Agniveer

The captions of the majority of Neha Patel’s Facebook posts have a mention of the organisation Agniveer. Led by Sanjeev Newar (Film critic profile — @GemsOfBollywood) and Vashi Sharma, Agniveer describes itself as a team of volunteers “working both in virtual and real world to promote Vedic Dharma and counter falsehood”. The website mentions ‘gau seva’ (cow service) as one of their activities. Agniveer also has an X handle dedicated sharing content that shows injured cows and how the Agniveer team takes care of the animals.

On many occasions, Newar and Sharma have promoted Neha and shared updates on Pranin Foundation from their official X handles. They refer to Neha as the Gujarat Head of Agniveer, which proves a direct association between Pranin Foundation and Agniveer.

When asked about the funding of the Pranin Foundation, Neha said in an interview that initially, the expenses were borne by herself. She also mentions that the foundation also receives donations they and collaborates with Agniveer.

Communal Disinformation Amplified by Neha Patel

Other than sharing updates about her work in cow-vigilantism, Neha Patel also utilizes her platform to disseminate anti-Muslim narratives and communal mis/disinformation. Here are a few instances:

False claim 1:

A video of Sabarimala pilgrims from Thiruvananthapuram was viral where a child could be seen crying and calling for his father. Several Right Wing influencers shared the clip claiming that this was the ‘plight of Hindus in Kerala’, insinuating that Hindus were not free to practice their religion in Kerala. Neha joined the chorus and shared the clip with the caption: “Cruelty and Barbarism – Devotees were picked up by Kerela Police becuase they were ill treated and lack of facilities for the devotees. Raised voice against the CM in a peaceful manner. What was the fault of this child. Karma will hit hard and very hard. Hindus who silently watched this and who did this act – None will be spared. Karma does not differentiate nor discriminate. It only hits back. Jai Bharat#kerala #keralaagainsthindus”.

Alt News found that the viral claim was misleading. The boy in the video was separated from his father for a brief while amid the rush at the Sabarimala temple and was soon reunited with him.

False claim 2:

On October 29, multiple blasts at a religious convention of a Chrisitan group called Jehovah’s Witness in Kerala’s Kalamassery killed three persons and injured over 50. A few hours after the news of the blast broke, a man named Dominic Martin released a confession video on Facebook claiming responsibility for the blasts. He mentioned that he used to be a part of the Jehovah’s Witness community but due to differences in their worldviews, he separated himself from the group. Even before all the facts of the situation came out in the public domain, the Right Wing jumped the gun and added a false and unrelated Muslim angle to these blasts. Neha shared a clip of the blast scene and mentioned in the caption that Kalamassery is apparently known to be a place for ‘Islamic Terrorism’.

False claim 3:

In February of last year, she shared a video clip featuring Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan at the funeral of the late singer Lata Mangeshkar, with the bizarrely false claim that he had spat on her mortal remains. Accompanying the video was a Hindi caption that translates to: ‘Is ‘thook (spit) jihad’ happening here too? Will never change.’ Alt News had previously debunked this baseless assertion.

False claim 4:

In February 2020, she shared a video where children, some among them wearing skullcaps, were being escorted by a woman and the police in an organised manner. In her caption, she claimed that these kids were apparently being given training to become terrorists in Madrasa and had been ‘rescued’ by the police in Kolkata. Alt News debunked this claim when the video surfaced in 2019 with a similar message and found that it had been in circulation with misleading claims since 2015. Even though Neha’s post had been flagged by Facebook as false information, instead of clarifying the same she updated her caption to announce that she stands by her claim.

‘Throw out all Rohingyas, Bangladeshi Muslims from the country…’:

In one of her Facebook updates she shares that to save the country, it is the responsibility of all Indian citizens to throw refugee Rohingya and Bangladeshi Muslims out of the country. She mentioned that the Muslim community living in India should also consider it their responsibility. Neha also appeals to the viewers of the post to contact the ‘likes of her’ if Rohingya and Bangladeshi Muslims are found living in their locality, with the assurance that the messenger’s name won’t be revealed.

Unwavering support for Monu Manesar

Haryana police apprehended Monu Manesar on September 12, as part of an SIT investigation into the communal unrest that erupted in Nuh on July 31. Rajasthan police took him into custody in their investigation into the deaths of Nasir and Junaid. Arrested in the Tapi case, Neha Patel was released on bail on September 14. Three days later, she took to Facebook to extend her support for murder accused Mohit Yadav or Monu Manesar.

Following the Bhiwani killings, Neha praised Monu as a ‘brave son of gaumata’. Simultaneously, she criticized the media and shared a purported threat from the Haryana panchayat, warning that the police’s arrest of Monu would have severe consequences.

Standing by Monu Manesar and his companions, she also asked Muslim political leaders why they could not advice the community to stop slaughtering cows, suggesting that an incident like this (the alleged murder of two Muslim men) would not have happened if cows were not salughtered.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Talk of Women Empowerment… Only Lip Service?

In her interview with the website: womenpla.net, Neha talks about the struggles she had to face being a woman in the field of cow vigilantism. She states that people would form adverse opinions about her as she would often be out on the streets at odd hours waiting on the roadside after getting a tip about a vehicle. The article claims that Neha Patel is the first woman from Gujarat and the second in India to invoke IPC Section 354D (Stalking), after its amendment in 2013, to protect another woman from molestation. In her concluding statements in the interview, Neha encourages women across the nation to seek assistance from the Indian legal system, emphasizing that crime thrives only when the truth remains silent.

On the other hand, we have video footage of one of her team members telling an alleged cow smuggler that the latter could have instead sent his wife or mother to someone for a night to earn a livelihood. Neha Patel, who films the incident, can be seen laughing heartily at the comment.

On December 27, 2021, a video was posted on Neha’s now-terminated YouTube channel titled: “Surat, Palsana: 10 Cows Rescued”. She and her team ‘caught’ a pick-up van carrying cattle. It can be seen in the video that the windshield of the vehicle has been completely shattered.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

At the 4:11 mark of the video, the driver, Ahmed Pathan, is shown. The right side of his face is swollen and his right eye is bruised.

At the 5:07 mark, Neha asks Ahmed why he chose to do this work knowing that it’s illegal. He explains that he has been going through some hard times and there’s a financial crisis at home, so he took up the first job he could get, he had no other choice.

At this point, one of the men from Neha’s team, whom she refers to as Bharat bhai, responds to Ahmed in Hindi saying: “If you had no other choice, why didn’t you send your wife to someone else? You could’ve earned some money. You could’ve sent your mother to do business for one night. Send your wife to me, I’ll give you Rs. 5000.” Neha, filming the scene, could be heard laughing at the comment along with the other men from her team.

From Ghar Wapsi Events to Hindutva Rallies

In an interview with the YouTube channel DO Politics — of which Ajeet Bharti is the co-founder and editor — Neha discusses her involvement in the ‘ghar wapsi’ or re-conversion of Hindus who had previously converted to another religion. She mentions an instance of ‘ghar wapsi’ that she and her team carried out in Dang district in Gujarat. She states that they re-converted 8,000 families from Christianity to Hinduism. A YouTube video titled: “Dang: 20 Tribal Families Ghar Wapsi brainwashed by missionaries”, was published on her channel last year which captured the re-conversion of tribal residents in Dang.

She also participated as a speaker at a Hindu Jan Aakrosh Morcha, organized by Sakal Hindu Samaj in Malegaon, Maharashtra, in July 2023. During this event, some of the speakers made explicit calls for violence against the Muslim community. The X-handle HindutvaWatch shared a clip from the event featuring Neha Patel and another Hindutva leader.

The speaker before Neha delivered a hateful speech and issued open threats against Muslims. Shortly after (at 01:50 in the above video), Neha addressed the audience, delivering a brief speech in Hindi: “As I see my Hindu brothers and sisters gathered in such large numbers at this event, I am confident that those who dream of perpetrating ‘Love Jihad’, forced religious conversions, and cow slaughter can comprehend what will happen if we all unite and take to the streets.”

We reached out to Neha Patel for an interview back in September. Initially, she was enthusiastic about it and asked us to share the questionnaire via email, but we have not received any response from her yet. We came across a Facebook post from her, made five days after our email was sent to her wherein she attempted to justify the three FIRs that have been filed against her till date. We reached out to her again in December, but we still have not received a response. This story will be updated as and when she chooses to respond to us.