The Rajasthan High Court has issued a bailable warrant against six persons, who were acquitted in 2019, in connection with the Pehlu Khan lynching matter by an Alwar court. 

Khan was attacked by over 200 Gau Rakshaks or cow vigilantes on suspicion of cow smuggling, while returning from a cattle fair to his village Nuh in Haryana. The 55-year-old succumbed to his injuries 4 days after the attack on April 4, 2017 in a private hospital in Alwar.

The Division Bench of Justices Goverdhan Bardhar and Vijay Bishnoi has ordered, “Admit. Issue bailable warrants against the accused-respondents to secure their presence before this court in the sum of Rs. 10,000/-, returnable within a period of eight weeks.”

The present appeal has been filed by Pehlu Khan’s sons, Irshad and Arif, and their plea has been clubbed with the plea filed by the Rajasthan government against the lower court’s acquittal order.

On August 14, 2019, Additional District Judge Dr. Sarita Swami in Alwar had acquitted six out of the total nine people accused in the Pehlu Khan lynching case. These men are Om Yadav, Hukum Chand Yadav, Sudhir Yadav, Jagmal Yadav, Naveen Sharma and Rahul Saini. The accused were discharged of all charges after being given the “benefit of doubt”. Interestingly, the viral video of the mob lynching was ruled inadmissible by the district court.

After the lynching incident, two FIRs were filed: one against the violent mob for grievously beating Pehlu Khan, and second against Khan himself, his two sons and the truck driver for allegedly transporting cattle (cow) illegally out of the state. 

During the horrific assault, Khan had tried to produce the paper work from civic authorities that stated that the cows were purchased for milk production and not for slaughter. But the attackers tore up the documents and mercilessly beat him with sticks. Khan, who was a heart patient, suffered cracked ribs, a bloody nose and even injuries to his eye.

On October 30, 2019, Rajasthan High Court’s Justice Pankaj Bhandari had quashed the chargesheet against Khan, his sons and the driver. He had observed in his order, “There is nothing on record to show that the bovine were being transported for the purpose of slaughtering… Continuation of proceedings would tantamount to abuse of process of law and would result in grave injustice to petitioner Nos. 2 and 3 who have lost their father in the incident and petitioner No.1 who was merely a driver and was transporting the milching cows and their calves from Rajasthan to the residence of petitioner Nos.2 and 3 at Haryana.” (Khan Mohammed and Ors vs State of Rajasthan, S.B Crl. Misc. Petition No. 5935 of 2019)

This lynching case has been known for its botched-up investigation by the Rajasthan Police, the controversial acquittal order and the impunity with which Pehlu Khan’s sons, their lawyer as well as witnesses were attacked in broad daylight, by men in an unmarked vehicle in September 2018 when they were going to the court to depose. A detailed CJP report about the shoddy investigation and manipulation of the case till now may be read here.

The order dated September 6, 2021 may be read here: 

Related:

The Murder of Pehlu Khan
Pehlu Khan’s Sons, Lawyer and two Case Witnesses attacked!
Pehlu Khan lynching: Rajasthan files appeal before HC
Police file chargesheet against Pehlu Khan, call him Cattle Smuggler
Where is the justice in the Pehlu Khan murder case?

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Though this is certainly not the first time we have seen such a reluctance to punish those guilty of brute crimes, what makes this denial of justice starker, is the prevalent political and social environment, conducive to mob violence that surrounds us. India has seen a spiral in cases of lynchings over the past six years. Many of those who have been mercilessly attacked by ‘the mob’ –that enjoys undoubted political patronage if not outright sanction—have been Muslim cattle traders, several have also been Dalits or belonged to other marginalised sections. On test then is how insulated are our institutions of justice from this pervasive mob psyche.

Indian courts have in the past, in rare moments of judicial vindication transferred cases, stepped in to ensure the integrity of the investigation, questioned the lapses in the prosecution and most crucial of all, actually used the expanse of powers for re-investigation and further investigation given to the trial court under existing Indian criminal law.

Epic pronouncements by the Supreme Court, have ensured a crucial intervention, pointing out the role of the trial court when faced with gross public crimes, made worse by a deliberately botched-up investigation and weak kneed prosecution. Tragically, the absence of a systemised institutional memory within even our courts (higher courts down to trial courts) has reduced these significant pronouncements to glimmers of hope within the broader normal of a low conviction rate coupled with a dulled and hollowed out jurisprudence.

Six of the accused named by Pehlu Khan in his dying declaration (Om Yadav, Hukum Chand Yadav, Sudhir Yadav, Jagmal Yadav, Naveen Sharma and Rahul Saini) were actually dropped as accused when the CBI Crime Branch was brought in to head the investigation. Efforts to arraign them as accused through a Section 319 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CRPC), before the same trial court that finally acquitted the six other accused, were rejected by the judge. The application under section 319 was argued over two days by advocates for the family of the deceased in July 2019.

While the judge has commented on the fact that the Rajasthan crime branch did not produce either the video or the phone on which it was shot before the court, or even get these analysed in a forensic laboratory, the court itself, did little to nudge the prosecution agency into covering the lapses in the probe as the CRPC empowers the courts to do. If the investigation was so shoddy, what should have been the role of the trial court that has been hearing the case for over two years?

The court, in its judgement, even pulls up the police for a delay in the registration of the FIR in the case and comments on the “serious negligence” on part of the investigating officer. However, these officers escape any legal consequences of this gross dereliction in duty. In fact, they are not punished by the court at all. It is not as if the court of Judge Sarita Swamy not made copious note of the weak charge sheet. She observes, “This way, in this case, according to the prosecution, the accused were identified on the basis of two videos of the incident shot on mobile. But surprisingly, the video cited by Ramesh Sinsinwar and the photographs prepared from it was not taken on record and neither was the mobile which contained the video, confiscated,” noted the court in its judgment.

Sinsinwar was the then SHO of Behror police station in Alwar district, and the first investigating officer in the case. In his statement to the court, Sinsinwar said that he had received one of the videos from an informant, but accepted that he hadn’t sent the video to the forensic science laboratory (FSL). He also accepted that he didn’t get a certificate from a nodal officer for the call details of the accused, nor were they verified from anyone. He told the court that he didn’t take any documents such as bills and SIM IDs from the accused which could show that the accused were the owners of the mobiles, and the phones were also not confiscated. But did the court in any way use its power under criminal law, to punish the SHO for this lapses that show a wilful even criminal negligence? Observations apart, the judge has done little to ensure that officers like Sinsinwar do not get away with such criminal negligence in the future.

Sections in the Criminal Procedure Code, section 311 with 165 of the Evidence Act give powers to the presiding judge to summon witnesses, and pro-actively intervene during trial. Section 173(8) empowers the court to ensure that the agencies investigating the case leave no stones unturned to tie up the loose knots in criminal cases.

 “..In the case of a defective investigation the Court has to be circumspect in evaluating the evidence and may have to adopt an active and analytical role to ensure that truth is found by having recourse to Section 311 or at a later stage also resorting to Section 391 instead of throwing hands in the air in despair. It would not be right in acquitting an accused person solely on account of the defect; to do so would tantamount to playing into the hands of the investigating officer if the investigation is designedly defective.
Karnel Singh v. State of M.P. (1995 (5) SCC 518.

The lapse or omission is committed by the investigation agency or because of negligence the prosecution evidence is required to be examined de hors such omissions to find out whether the said evidence is reliable or not. The contaminated conduct of officials should not stand on the way of the Courts getting at the truth by having recourse to Section 311, 391 of the Code and Section 165 of the Evidence Act at the appropriate and relevant stages and evaluating the entire evidence;

…It is no doubt true that the accused persons have been acquitted by the trial Court and the acquittal has been upheld, but if the acquittal is unmerited and based on tainted evidence, tailored investigation, unprincipled prosecutor and perfunctory trial and evidence of threatened/terrorised witnesses, it is no acquittal in the eye of law and no sanctity or credibility can be attached and given to the so-called findings. It seems to be nothing but a travesty of truth, fraud on legal process.
Paras Yadav and Ors. v. State of Bihar (1999 (2) SCC 126

Justice has no favourite, except truth. It is as much the duty of the prosecutor as of the Court to ensure that full and material facts are brought on record so that there might not be miscarriage of justice.
Shakila Abdul Gafar Khan v. Vasant Raghunath Dhoble: (2003) 7 SCC 749.
 
In the especially the famed Zahira Shaikh case, Zahira Habibulla Sheikh v.s State of Gujarat, (2004) 3 SCC has made several serious observations on the role of the Trial Court:
“ ..Discovery, vindication and establishment of truth are the main purposes underlying existence of courts of justice;…
“In a criminal case the fate of the proceedings cannot   always be left entirely in the hands of the parties, crimes being public wrongs in breach and violation of public rights and duties, which affect the whole community as a community and are harmful to the society in general. The concept of fair trial entails familiar triangulation of interests of the accused, the victim and the society and it is the community that acts through the State and prosecuting agencies. Interests of society are not to be treated completely with disdain and as persona non grata. Courts have always been considered to have an overriding duty to maintain public confidence in the administration of justice – often referred to as the duty to vindicate and uphold the ‘majesty of the law’”…….
 

“..The power of the Court under Section 165 of the Evidence Act is in a way complementary to its power under Section 311 of the Code. The section consists of two parts i.e. (i) giving a discretion to the Court to examine the witness at any stage and (ii) the mandatory portion which compels the Court to examine a witness if his evidence appears to be essential to the just decision of the Court
If a criminal Court is to be an effective instrument in dispensing justice, the Presiding Judge must cease to be a spectator and a more recording machine by becoming a participant in the trial evincing intelligence, active interest and elicit all relevant materials necessary for reaching the correct conclusion, to find out the truth, and administer justice with fairness and impartiality both to the parties and to the community it serves.  Courts administering criminal justice cannot turn a blind eye to vexatious or oppressive conduct that has occurred in relation to proceedings, even if a fair trial is still possible, except at the risk of undermining the fair name and standing of the judges as impartial and independent adjudicators.
( Zahira Habibulla Sheikh v.s State  of  Gujarat,  (2004) 3 SCC 158)
 
The failure of the court lies in presiding over this sham of a prosecution and investigation, and in fact functioning as merely as a silent spectator.

The post Pehlu Khan Murder: Courts on trial, where is the substantive justice? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Earlier the police had given the accused a clean chit based on statements from the staff of a local cow shelter and phone records. What the police failed to highlight was that Jagmal Yadav, one of the accused, was also the manager of the cowshed whose employees testified that he and the other accused were present at the cowshed at the time of the crime.

The court of additional district judge first (ADJF) in Alwar pronounced the judgment on Wednesday in what is arguably one of the most controversial mob lynching cases in the country. This is because not only was the entire dance of death caught on camera clearly showing the assailants, but also because Pehlu Khan himself was chargesheeted in the case on allegations of cow smuggling!

The police chargesheeted Pehlu Khan’s sons Irsad (25) and Arif (22) under sections 5, 8 and 9 while charges have been framed against the deceased under section 6 of the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995. The chargesheet against Pehlu Khan was prepared on December 30 last year, 13 days after Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s government came into power in Rajasthan.

The case had a tortuous journey throughout the investigation and trial. About 45 witnesses have given their statements including 2 sons of Pehlu Khan who survived the mob assault. Shockingly, the lawyer, two witnesses and Khan’s sons were also attacked on their way to court on the day they were to record their testimony.

Further an independent investigation by journalist Ajit Sahi revealed a cover up at the FIR state itself, along with several lacunae in the investigation and prosecution. Here are key unanswered questions:

Question-1: If the police became aware of the attack only at 3:54 am on April 2, how did they take Pehlu Khan to Kailash Hospital on the night of April 1?

Question-2: How did the police record a statement at 11:50 pm on April 1, if they only became aware of the crime at 3:54 am the following morning?

Question-3: If the Kailash Hospital is only 2.9 kms away from the Behror Police Station, why did it take more than four hours before even an entry could be made in the general diary?

Question-4: Did the police purposely ignore the IPC sections that were most appropriate in the case?

Question-5: If contacting the accused was so easy why did the police claim that they were ‘untraceable’ and why did it go through the drama of announcing a reward for information about their whereabouts?

Question-6: Did the police purposely ignore and not investigate the accused’s links with the VHP and the Bajrang Dal?

More details of how the police botched the case may be read here.

The post No one killed Pehlu Khan? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Their lawyer Mohammed Asad Hayat posted about the incident on his Facebook page saying, “Today witnesses were going to start deposing in the Pehlu Khan case. Therefore I, accompanied by Pehlu’s sons Irshad and Arif, as well as two witnesses Azmat and Rafiq, were traveling to Behror in a car. Our driver was Amjad.” He said they were driving along NH8, and shortly after crossing Nimrana a vehicle began to follow them. Adv Hayat said, “The men were in a Black Scorpio but the vehicle had no number plates. They tried to overtake us and then started firing at us!” Hayat says that they took a U-turn after this attack and headed to Alwar to meet district officials. “This was a tactic to intimidate the witnesses and prevent them from deposing,” says Adv Hayat.

He also uploaded this picture on his Facebook page:

Speaking to Indian Express, Pehlu Khan’s son Irshad confirmed the story and said, “The vehicle came near and the men inside waved their hands, asking us to stop. We might have even stopped, but we didn’t as their vehicle did not have a number plate. Then their vehicle came nearer and the men started hurling abuses at us, telling us to stop at once. Then they overtook us and fired upon us.”

Speaking to Sabrang India, Alwar SP Rajendra Singh confirmed that Advocate Hayat and Pehlu Khan’s sons had approached him after escaping from the alleged attack. “Yes, they came here and met us. The matter has been brought to our attention and police will now investigate the case.” 

Meanwhile People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) and Sabrang India’s sister concern Citizens for Justice and Peace are appealing for protection to be provided to the witnesses in the case.
 

PEOPLE’S UNION FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES
RAJASTHAN

Date: 29th September, 2018
Jaipur.

Sh. O.P. Galhotra,
DG Rajasthan,
Jaipur.

Sh. VK Singh,
IG Jaipur Range,
Jaipur.

SP Alwar
Alwar, Rajasthan

Subject:
1.   Urgent lodging of the FIR and arrest of all accused in today morning’s attack on all witnesses in the Pehlu khan murder case, near Nimrana in Alwar district.
2.    Providing security to the witnesses for a fair and impartial trial.
3.    Shifting of the trial outside Behror for the above objective.

Dear Sir,

Today was the date of hearing in the Pehlu khan murder case in the ADJ Behror court. All the witnesses along with a lawyer were on their way to Behror from Jaisinghpur, Nuh, Mewat, Haryana. Aarif and Irshad, sons of Pehlu Khan and Rafique and Azmat are primary witnesses to the lynching that happened on 1st April, 2017. Pehlu Khan, was seriously injured during the incident and later passed away on the 3rd. April, 2017 in a private hospital in Behror.

With the SC having given proper guidelines in its July 2018 order in the TehseenPoonawalla case of setting up fast track courts, speeding up the trial and conducting day to day hearings. The SC also issued contempt notices to the Rajasthan Police for the murder of Rakbar Khans in RamgarhAlwar. This urged the Courts and the police get their act together and finally the witnesses were called for their statements.

The details of today’s i.e. 29 September 2018 are as follows –

The four witnesses and their lawyer left Jaisinghpur early morning and were on their way to Behror in a Bolero car numbered HR55 1310. While approaching Gyan Hotel near Neemrana, their vehicle was chased by unknown men in a black Scorpio without a number plate and their vehicle was fired at, after which the Scorpio turned towards Behror and disappeared. It was targeted as is clear from the Message sent by Lawyer Asad Haya which is as follows ” आज पहलू केस में गवाहों के बयान शुरू होने थे। इसलिए मैं पहलू के पुत्रगण इरशाद , आरिफ और गवाह अज़मत व रफीक़ के साथ कार से बहरोड़ जा रहा था।कार अमजद चला रहा था । नीमराना क्रॉस करने के बाद अज्ञात लोगों द्वारा हमारी कार का पीछा शुरू कर दिया गया और ओवरटेक करते हुए  कार को रोकने की कोशिश की गई और फायर भी किया गया ।फायरिंग करते हुए गाड़ी बहरोड़ की तरफ चली गयी । काले रंग की स्कोर्पियी थी जिस पर नंबर प्लेट नहीं थी । इन हालात मैं हमने गाड़ी को वापस यूटर्न से वापस लिया है और अब अलवर ज़िला अधिकारियों के पास जा रहे है। सभी सुरक्षित हैं । गवाही से रोकने के लिए ये कृत्य अपराधियों द्वारा किया गया है।

-असद हयात

On receiving this message on a Whatsapp group, I called up Azmat who has been regularly in touch with me. Azmat confirmed the incident and told me that they would only go to the court only if they got proper police protection. They were rushing to Alwar, which was 70 KMs away. Upon

I called up the SP immediately, who said that an FIR would be lodged and action would be taken. The IG Jaipur range too was informed and has also responded positively.

It is our humble request that security be provided urgently and immediately to the witnesses.This police protection should be given from Haryana itself, right up to the Court and back. It is important that for a fair and impartial trial the witnesses are not only given protection but are able to fearlessly speak out what they saw that day as part of their deposition to the court.

Secondly, it would be sensible to move the trial outside Behror to Jaipur, Alwar or even outside to Delhi as was done in some of the Gujarat 2002 cases,when the trial was shifted to Mumbai.

I hope you share our concern and would recommend the same to the judicial authorities, i.e. for the trial to be moved out of Behror. The environment in Behror is averse to democratic practices, where not only lynchings occur but also no action is taken to stop them. Another such incident from 2017 was when Karwaan-e-Mohabbat led by Harsh Mander was passing through Behror. They were not allowed by the local police to even visit the place where Pehlu Khan was lynched, let alone hold a meeting in the city. As the supporters of the killers and so called Gaurakshaks had told the police that they would attack if such a meeting happened. To make matters worse, the Karwaan was attacked in Kotputli when they stopped for tea.

The constitution promises the right to free and fair trial to all the citizens, sadly these circumstances are far away from it. It is important that not only protection be given to the witnesses but also the trial be moved out of Behror to actualize the principle laid down by the law of the land..

Regards.

Kavita Srivastava,                                           Anant Bhatnagar,
President                                                      General Secretary

Address: 76, Shanti Niketan Colony, Kisan Marg, Tonk Road, Jaipur-302015

The post Pehlu Khan’s sons, lawyer and case witnesses attacked in Rajasthan appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The story so far

On April 1, 2017, a small group of dairy farmers was driving up along the Jaipur-Delhi highway in Rajasthan with a few cows they had purchased at a cattle fair in Jaipur. The group included Pehlu Khan and his sons Irshad and Arif, who were returning to their village Nuh in Haryana. But just as they reached Behror tehsil in Alwar district, they were attacked by over 200 Gau Rakshaks or cow vigilantes. Khan kept pleading with his assailants to let them go and even produced paper work from civic authorities that stated that the cows were purchased for milk production and not for slaughter. But the attackers tore up the documents and mercilessly beat the hapless men with sticks. The Gau Rakshaks kicked and punched them causing many grievous injuries to Pehlu Khan and his companions. Khan who was a heart patient suffered cracked ribs, a bloody nose and even injuries to his eye. Two days later Pehlu died of his injuries at a private hospital.

Watch our exclusive video report here:

You can also read the full report here.

The FIR stage cover up

The cover began at the stage of filing the First Information Report (FIR) itself. Before Pehlu Khan died, he clearly named six men as his attackers. These men were Om Yadav, Hukum Chand Yadav, Sudhir Yadav, Jagmal Yadav, Naveen Sharma and Rahul Saini. This statement later became his ‘dying declaration’ and ought to have been accepted as such. But the police did not include these six names in the FIR. Subsequently, the police claimed that none of these men was even at the crime scene during the lynching. This virtual clean chit ensured that Pehlu’s attackers got bail despite their heinous crime.

Click here for full article

The post The Murder of Pehlu Khan appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image: Amir Rizvi / CJP
 

A brief history of India’s Bovine Fixation

Cow protection or ‘Gau Raksha’ is not a new concept in India. Way back in 1881, Arya Samaj founder, Dayanand Saraswati had proclaimed cow slaughter an anti-Hindu act in his book Gaukarunanidhi. Cow protection found the ardent endorsement from Gandhi himself!

Most Indian states have laws against cow slaughter. In fact, only Kerala, Poschim Bongo, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim haven’t banned cow slaughter. And while the Directive Principles of State Policy say, “The State shall endeavor to organize agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and shall take steps for preserving and improving the breeds, and prohibiting the slaughter of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle”, there is no Constitutional ban on the consumption of beef.

However, cow vigilantism, where groups of self-proclaimed “Gau-Rakshaks” or cow protection squads go about ambushing people who transport cows, is a more extreme take on the concept of protecting cows. Over the last few years, the frequency and intensity of such attacks has increased giving birth to a violent movement that has earned the moniker Gautankwad.
 

Click here to Read the Full Story

The post Victims of Gautankwad: Pehlu Khan appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
 
The first incident of 2017 was reported less than six months ago on April 1, when Khan, a resident of Haryana, was beaten by cow vigilantes in Rajasthan’s Alwar district. He succumbed to his injuries in a hospital two days later.
 
As news of the release of the six suspects was made public, activists who planned to visit Khan’s family in the village of Behror were threatened and warned not to visit by Hindu right-wing organisations. The karwan-e-mohabbat, or caravan of love–conceived by former bureaucrat and peace activist Harsh Mander–is currently on a nationwide journey visiting families of those who have been lynched or otherwise targeted, mostly Muslim or Dalit.
 

 
“We have been told that the reception for our karwan-e-mohabbat in the areas of Alwar will be with lathis,” John Dayal, a human-rights activist, told IndiaSpend while on the road. “All the places (in Behror) we had arranged to have public meetings have reneged on their contracts because of these threats and said ‘please don’t come’. However the Rajasthan government this evening just assured us safe passage throughout the state. We won’t stop our journey because of these threats — we are here to counter the hate.”
 
Late on September 14, 2017, as Mander’s group entered Rajasthan, they received a state police escort.
 

Peace activist Harsh Mander’s caravan gets a police escort as it enters Rajasthan on the night of September 14, 2017, after threats from Hindu right-wing groups.
 
On September 1, the crime investigation department-crime branch (CID-CB) investigating Khan’s killing sent its findings to the Alwar police, clearing six people — Om Yadav (45), Hukum Chand Yadav (44), Sudhir Yadav (45), Jagmal Yadav (73), Naveen Sharma (48) and Rahul Saini (24) — from the list of accused in the case, the Hindustan Times reported on September 14, 2017.  Three of the six are linked to Hindu right-wing organisations, the report said.
 
In his statement to the police, Khan had named these men as being among those who had attacked him, the Indian Express reported on September 14, 2017.
 

Following the CID-CB’s report, Alwar police cancelled a reward of Rs 5,000 each for information about the six accused since they were absconding. The investigation was based on statements of the staff of rath gaushala (a cow shelter) 4 km from the crime scene and mobile phone records, according to the Hindustan Times.
 
The gaushala staff said the six accused were at the cow shelter at the time of the attack. “Call record details of the six people …further support this,” read the police report quoted in the Hindustan Times, which also found that Jagmal Yadav, one of the suspects, was a patron of the shelter.
 
On September 6, 2017, the Supreme Court ordered the appointment of a “nodal officer” to address such hate crime in each district. Prior to this in April, days after Pehlu Khan’s death the top court sought responses from the Centre and six states — including BJP-ruled Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Congress-run Karnataka — and called for action against cow-protection groups.
 
87% of dead since 2010 are Muslim
 
Since 2010 — the start-point of our database — 30 persons were killed in bovine-related hate crimes across India, with the highest death toll in Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, IndiaSpend reported on September 1, 2017. At least 210 people were injured in these 78 attacks, including 18 women — five of whom were sexually assaulted.
 
Muslims were the target of 53% (42 of 75) incidents of violence centred on bovine issues in 2010-17 and comprised 87% (26 of 30) killed in 78 incidents, data show.
 
In 46%–36 of 78–incidents reported, police registered cases against victims/survivors, our database revealed.
 
Created through a collection and content analysis of reports in the English media–which tend to have the widest nationwide news spread–the database shows that 97% (76 of 78) of such incidents were reported after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government came to power in May 2014.
 
More than half or 52% of the bovine-related violence–39 of 75 incidents–were reported in states governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the time, revealed our analysis of violence recorded until August 31, 2017.
 
On June 29, 2017, a day after protests in Indian cities, London and New York against the government’s slow response and silence after nationwide attacks against mostly Muslims and Dalits, Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised cow vigilantes, speaking at the centenary celebrations of Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat.
 
“Killing people in the name of gau bhakti (cow worship) is unacceptable,” said Modi. “This is not something Mahatma Gandhi would approve of. No one has the right to take law into his/her hands. We belong to a land of non-violence. Violence is not the solution to any problem.”
 
A day before the start of the monsoon session in Parliament on July 15, 2017, the prime minister, at an all-India meeting of the BJP, once again criticised cow vigilantes and put the onus on state governments to act against them, as IndiaSpend reported on July 28, 2017.
 
(Saldanha is an assistant editor with IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend
 

The post As 6 In Pehlu Khan Murder Freed, 2017 Is Prime Year For Cow-Related Hate Crime appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In the first political intervention after the gross lynching, to death, of a dairy farmer in Rajasthan , Pehlu Khan, last week,  leaders of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) yesterday visited Jaisinghpur of Nuh District of Haryana to console the bereaved family members of Pehlu Khan, the dairy farmer who was allegedly killed by organisations reported to be a part of the sangh parivar. AIKS leaders including Hannan Mollah, former Member of Parliament (MP) and Polit Bureau Member, Subhashini Ali, General Secretary, P Krishnaprasad, Finance Secretary, Master Sher Singh, President of Haryana Kisan Sabha and Manoj Kumar visited the family of the victims.   Satvir Singh, state president of CITU, Major S L Prajapathy, Gurgaon District secretary of CPIM were also part of the delegation. 

The delegation met Pehlu Khan’s mother Ankuri Begam, wife Jebuna Begam, and two children Irshad and Arif who were also injured in the same incident. Pehlu Khan had six children including four daughters. The delegation also visited Ajmat who is bed ridden at home since he was forcefully discharged from the Alwar Hospital. 

Hundreds villagers gathered to receive the Kisan Sabha leaders.  Ajmal Khan, former MLA,  Kalekhan, former sarpanch, Sarfudheen and Khaleel Ahamad Akthar Hassan of Sahdani Sabha Mewat, Raj Singh and Adv. Arshad khan among others attended the meeting.  The meeting decided to call a panchayath of the people of neighborhood villagers in the next week to mobilise and protest the incidents that signal India's sliding into rank vigilantism.The family of Pehlu Khan has around 1.5 acres of land and is dependant on wheat cultivation and dairying as a means of livelihood. On that fateful day, Pehlu Khan, his two children, his nephew and two other villagers went to Jaipur to purchase milching animals since they hope they could get animals cheap in the Cattle fair of Jaipur Hatwada. 

The Mewat region, dominated by a Muslim population has a rich tradition of Hindu Muslim amity and brotherhood, termed “Gothpal”. The Muslim families are traditionally peasants and cattle breeders. This has been eroded over the decades by the politics of division and othering. The brutal killing of Pehlu Khan by RSS organisations has created fear psychosis and nervousness among the peace loving people. 

The FIR on the lynching clearly states that the mob which attacked the farmers belonged to the Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal(BD) and also points to the role of the parent organisation, the RSS. After Pehlu Khan died succumbing to his injuries, district-level leaders of the VHP had even threatened the senior police officers of dire consequences if they arrest any of their activists. The Police, then registered a false FIR against Pehlu Khan and other innocent farmers despite the fact that they have records of the cattle purchase issued by the Jaipur Municipal Corporation.  The Home Minister of Rajasthan has been, shockingly, accusing farmers of 'smuggling' cows by violating the law and even the Union Minister Mukhthar Abbas Naqvi has misguided the Rajya Sabha by denying that any such incident of murder even occurred in Rajasthan.  All this exposes the role of RSS and BJP leaders who appear set to defend the lynch mob in general and those responsible for this gross murder, in particular.

The situation is serious, dragging the country towards anarchy and lawlessness which needs to be fought tooth and nail to protect the democratic rights of the people and to preserve the secular fabric of the society.  The AIKS leadership has demanded a high level enquiry to unearth the conspiracy behind the Alwar Killing. The AIKS leaders also assured the village people and the family members all help to ensure strong action and stringent punishment to the entire culprits as per law including legal aid.

Home Page Photo Courtesy: Indian Express

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