At first it seemed a relatively recent phenomenon. Spot videos of so-called Gau Rakshaks or cow vigilantes launching violent attacks on people emerged from Gujarat first, and then Madhya Pradesh. And leaders in the current dispensation openly supported the violence.

But the video above, which is rather graphic, shows that it began even earlier. Although the video – in which one of the attackers brandishes a gun – went viral beginning Friday, The Indian Express reported that the incident took place in May, in Haryana.

“We are Hindus and the cow is our mother. If the world says we are goons, let it be. We just want to protect our mother,” Monu, one of the perpetrators, told The Sunday Express.

The newspaper also reported that two of the attackers have photographs with top BJP leaders – Amit Shah, Anurag Thakur, Prakash Javadekar – and mention affiliations to organisations such as the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, Baba Umand Singh Gau Raksha Dal, amongst others, on their Facebook profiles.