New Delhi: The cow vigilantes were at it again, this time in Yogi Adityanath-ruled Uttar Pradesh, where three alleged "cow smugglers" were brutally thrashed by villagers in Etah district.

The alleged thieves were stripped, tied to a tree, and then beaten up mercilessly. This is not the first time when the alleged cow vigilantes took the law into their own hands.

A video purportedly showing a large congregation of people around a man, who appears to have come under attack, is doing rounds on social media. A hapless police constable could also be seen in the video but is unable to do anything to protect the "cow smuggler".

The man, denuded of clothes because of continuous kicking and boxing he received at the hands of the unruly mob, was then paraded, too.

The Chief Minister has repeatedly emphasised that while the illegal smuggling of cattle will be dealt with strictly, nobody is allowed to take law and order into their own hands. Yogi's call seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

On May 12, cow vigilantes had thrashed five persons who were caught illegally slaughtering a buffalo inside the premises of a private dairy in Gandhi Park area in Aligarh.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had stressed the need for ending what he and his party called the "Gundaraj" under former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. However, the violence in the name of protecting cow continues unabated in the state.

"There is no need to take law in hand; if you find something illegal happening around go to the police and let them act, you don't need to take law into your hand," Chief Minister Adityanath had said in Meerut.

"If there are reports of illegal slaughter houses being in the state, it's the duty of the law enforcing agencies to take firm action against them."

There has been a spike in the cases of cow vigilantism in the country recently with many such incidents reported in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat.