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Why Haryana Wants Australia to Free Hate Crime Accused Vishal Jood

Aditya Menon
·3 min read

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar has been demanding the release of one Vishal Jood who is presently in jail in Australia.

Jood, a youth from Kurukshetra in Haryana, was arrested in Sydney on 16 April for a series of hate crimes against the Sikh community.

Khattar has even spoken to foreign minister S Jaishankar and sought his help on the matter.

A statement release from the director of public relations, Haryana government said that:

"External Affairs Minister assured CM that Vishal Jood would be released from prison in Australia very soon. Haryana's young Vishal Jood fought firmly with anti-national forces and didn't allow the tricolor to be insulted".

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The government also claimed that "anti-national forces" beat up Jood and got him "arrested under a false case". Several right wing websites and social media accounts have been carrying out a campaign demanding Jood's release.

This article will try to answer two questions:

  1. What are really the allegations against Vishal Jood?

  2. Why is Haryana government demanding his release?

The Allegations Against Vishal Jood

The claim that Vishal Jood is being targetted for "saving the national flag from Khalistanis" is misleading if not completely false.

In a statement the New South Wales police said that he was charged with “three counts of 'affray', three counts of 'armed with weapon with intent to commit indictable offence', two counts of 'destroy or damage property' and 'assault occasioning actual bodily harm in company of others'".

According to a report in Seven News, a prominent News channel in Australia, Jood has been arrested in connection with a series of violent gang attacks in Sydney. The channels quotes the police as alleging that "Sikhs identified by their turbans were targeted due to tensions in India".

"Vishal Jood was behind this rampage and a series of other hate crimes in Harris Park," the channel said, showing CCTV footage of a group of men attacking the windshield of a car using a baseball bat.

The channel mentions three hate crimes that took place:

  • 16 September 2020: A man walking on Brisbane street was hit on the head several times with a baseball bat and then kicked when on the ground by a group of about five men.

  • 14 February 2021 a range rover driver was attacked at Marion Street by a group of men wielding sticks and other weapons.

  • 28 February a group of people travelling in a Chrysler were attacked at Kendall Street by up to 10 men.

The channel further claimed that irrespective of what happens on these charges, Jood faces deportation as his visa has expired, though a few reports in Indian media said that he has a valid student visa.

Why Is Haryana Government Demanding Vishal Jood's Release?

Haryana government's demand for his release seems to stem from three different political considerations.

  1. Jood belongs to the Ror community whose organisations have been carrying out a campaign demanding his release and putting pressure on the Haryana government to raise the matter. The Ror community is present in sizable numbers in Karnal, Kurukshetra and Panipat. CM Manohar Lal Khattar happens to be from Karnal.

  2. Making Jood a hero helps the Haryana government in particular, and BJP in general, counter the farmers' protest. Presenting him as a "son of Haryana who took on Khalistanis" could be seen as an attempt to drive a wedge between protesters from Punjab and those from Haryana, as well as between Sikh and Hindu protesters.

  3. There's a logistical reason as well. The protesting farmers managed to march from Punjab to Delhi mainly with the help of farmers from Haryana. But if the Ror community is being mobilised against the farmers, it could lead to counter protests in Kurukshetra, Karnal and Panipat where the community is in sizable numbers. This would be on the Grand Trunk Road that many farmers will be using to come to Delhi.

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