Image Courtesy: dailypioneer.com

On Wednesday, October 30, 2019, the Rajasthan High Court (HC) quashed the cow smuggling case against Pehlu Khan who was lynched by a mob in 2017.

Pehlu Khan and sons Irshad and Arif were transporting cattle from a weekly market in Jaipur to their village in Haryana’s Nuh when a group of alleged cow vigilantes stopped him and thrashed the 55-year-old. Khan died in a hospital two days later.

Pehlu Khan’s lawyer Kapil Gupta said that a single bench of Justice PankajBhandari had ordered quashing of the FIR No. 235/2017 that was registered at Behror police station in Alwar against Pehluunder the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995, in April 2017.

During the tenure of BJP CM VasundharaRaje’s tenure, the Rajasthan Police registered FIR No. 253/2017 at Behror police station in Alwar against Pehlu Khan, Irshad, 25, Arif, 22, and Khan Mohammad, 55.Khan Mohammad, owner of the pickup in which Pehlu Khan and his sons were carrying cattle, had been charged under section 6 of the Act to be the abettor and had charged Pehlu’s sons Irshad and Arif for cattle smuggling.

Pehlu Khan’s sons appealed against the FIR, saying that they were the actual victims in the case.

Speaking to Sabrang India, Kapil Gupta said, “The court found no evidence that the cows were transported for trade. Also, the cows were milch cows and the calves were one and two years old and it couldn’t be presumed that they were being taken for slaughter.”

He also argued that they couldn’t have had been transporting cows for illegal purposes after buying them from the weekly market at INR 45,000 each.

He added that the cattle was bought from a weekly market in Jaipur and had a ‘ravanna’ (acknowledgment receipt) from the Jaipur Nagar Nigam (JMC). “They were carrying them on a pickup uncovered because they had valid documents” he said.

The Rajasthan government also filed an appeal against the acquittal of the six accused in the dairy farmer’s killing. A local court had let them off by giving them the benefit of doubt.

Related:
Pehlu Khan lynching: Rajasthan files appeal before HC
No one killed Pehlu Khan?
Pehlu Khan Murder: Courts on trial, where is the substantive justice?
Judgement in Pehlu Khan Case tomorrow: 2017 Lynching, Alwar
Pehlu Khan lynching case: Judgment on 14th August
 

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In a shocking development, on August 14, a trial court atn Alwar had acquitted all six people accused of lynching Pehlu Khan while he and a few others were transporting cows from Jaipur. Completely ignoring the Section 319 application that named crucial accused named in the dying declaration of Pehlu Khan, the acquittals had sent shock waves throughout the country. While giving the “benefit of doubt” prosecution, the the trial court had made remarks on a botched investigation by the Alwar police and the prosecution which failed to furnish key documents in court to prove the charges.
 
Pehlu Khan (55), a dairy farmer from Nuh district of Haryana, his two sons and some others were intercepted and attacked by cow vigilantes near Behror on April 1, 2017. Pehlu succumbed to his injuries on April 4 in a private hospital in Alwar.

A chargesheet against the accused — Vipin Yadav, Ravindra Yadav, Kalu Ram Yadav, Dayanand Yadav and Yogesh Kumar — was submitted before the trial court on May 31, 2017.

Subsequently, the police also accused Goliya and Bheem Rathi of the crime and presented a supplementary charge sheet against them. A case relating to the same crime was filed against two minors and they are facing trial in a juvenile justice court.

The acquittal two months ago had created an uproar, nationwide. It was only after these acquittals that the Congress-ruled state government had formed an SIT and decided appeal the decision. The government had designated additional advocate general R P Singh as the law officer to pursue the matter before the high court, under supervision of the ADGP (Crime). It was to identify lapses in investigation and fix responsibility on individual officers who had conducted the probe. The SIT later pinpointed many serious lapses in the investigation.
 
The 84-page SIT report now indicates the severe loopholes in the previous investigation: how each of the four investigating officers seriously erred. The question is will they now be prosecuted for dereliction of duty?The SIT report states that the first investigating officer visited the spot where Khan was allegedly assaulted only three days after the crime, failed to call the forensic team and didn’t order mechanical examination of the two vehicles in which Khan was transporting the cows. In all, the officer committed 29 mistakes, the report added.The SIT said the second investigating officer overlooked the “shoddy” investigation and failed to “supervise” the investigation properly. Further, the third investigating officer went to the crime spot but did not record the statements of the eyewitnesses, the SIT said. “He made no effort to correct mistakes in investigation by previous IOs (investigating officers),” the report added. Thereafter, the fourth investigating officer cleared six people named by Khan in his dying declaration without “any new or solid evidence”, the SIT added.
 
Finally, according to the SIT report, while the assistant director (prosecution) Vijay Singh, had pointed out holes in the investigation as far back as June 2017 (the date that the first charge sheet in the case was filed on June 3, 2017), the local police went against this legal opinion and proceeded to file first charge sheet.

It is clear now from the SIT’s re-investigation report that all six accused should also have been charged under IPC Sections 395 (dacoity), 147 (rioting) and 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), in addition to those dealing with murder, voluntarily causing hurt, wrongful restraint and damage to property.
 
While the sessions court 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 judgment, even pulls up the police for a delay in the registration of the first information report 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 of duty. They are not punished by the court at all. It is not as if the court of the judge, Sarita Swami, did not not make copious notes of the weak charge sheet. “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 were not taken on record and neither was the mobile which contained the video, confiscated,” noted the court in its judgment.
 
Sinsinwar was the then station house officer 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 had not sent the video to the forensic science laboratory. He also accepted that he did not 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 did not 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 these lapses that show a wilful, even criminal, negligence? Observations apart, the court has done little to ensure that officers like Sinsinwar do not get away with such criminal negligence in the future.

Sections in the CrPC, Section 311 with 165 of the Indian Evidence Act, give powers to the presiding judge to summon witnesses, and proactively intervene during trial. Section 173(8) empowers the court to ensure that the agencies investigating the case leave no stone unturned to tie up the loose knots in criminal cases.
 
The moot question now is whether the state government will pursue prosecutions against errant officers.
 
Related:

5. Shocking! Alwar lynching victim Pehlu Khan chargsheeted posthumously by the Congress government

The post Pehlu Khan lynching: Rajasthan files appeal before HC appeared first on SabrangIndia.

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.

Photo: YouTube screengrab

The trial has been recently completed, two years after Pehlu Khan, the dairy farmer from Nuh, who was lynched by a mob at least 200 people who called themselves as ‘gau rakshaks’ or cow vigilantes.  After hearing the final arguments in the case against the accused, additional district judge of the local court Sarita Swami posted the case for judgment on 14 August. About 45 witnesses have given their statements including 2 sons of Pehlu Khan who survived the mob assault.

Pehlu Khan, 55 years and 6 others were travelling back to their village in Nuh after purchasing cows and calves from a cattle fair in Jaipur, Rajasthan on April 1. Pehlu Khan wanted to increase the milk production in his dairy and had purchased the cows for this purpose. They were stopped at a crossing at Jaipur-Delhi national high way by cow vigilantes who accused them of smuggling the cows for slaughter. Pehlu Khan, was brutally beaten up by these self-styled cow vigilantes near Behror in Rajasthan on the Delhi-Alwar highway on April 1, accusing him of smuggling cattle. He succumbed to his injuries at a private hospital. The lynching was caught on camera. The attackers were not convinced even when Pehlu Khan and others showed them the legal documents of the purchase they had made at the fair or when they were told the cows were purchased for their dairy. The frenzied Hindutva mob tore up the documents and beat Pehlu Khan, his 2 sons and others who were with them with sticks and rods.

Pehlu Khan succumbed to severe injuries and died on April 3-4, 2017. Others were seriously injured. The mob also robbed these persons of their cell phones and money. Before Pehlu’s death he recorded a dying declaration against six persons. Ironically the six persons against whom there was this direct evidence were given a ‘clean chit” by CID Crime!

There were two FIRs registered in the case. One was against the mob for beating Pehlu Khan to death and second against him and his family for transporting cattle (cow) illegally out of the state. The police had earlier given a clean chit to the six people accused of lynching Pehlu Khan, a dairy farmer. The police’s decision was reportedly based on statements of the staff of a cow shelter and mobile phone records.

The police had registered cases against some of the accused for voluntarily causing hurt, wrongful restrain and culpable homicide and later added murder after the death of Pehlu Khan.

Shockingly, the Rajasthan Police filed a chargesheet for cow smuggling against Pehlu Khan, who was allegedly lynched in 2017 by a mob of ‘gau rakshaks’ in Alwar for transporting cattle, and his two sons. 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.Section 5 of the RBA Act pertains to the prohibition of the export of bovine animals for the purpose of slaughter and regulation of temporary migration or export for other purposes, while section 6 says the transporter is also an abettor and is liable for the same punishment as the person committing the offence.Section 8 is about the penalty for such offences while Section 9 mentions punishment for causing hurt to a bovine animal. In 2018, the previous BJP government in the state had filed a similar chargesheet against two associates of Pehlu Khan, who were also attacked by the mob.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot responded to the backlash saying, “Investigation of this case was done in the past during BJP government and charge sheet was presented. If any discrepancies will be found in the investigation, case will be re-investigated.”

In October 2017, an independent investigation by journalist Ajit Sahi had highlighted the unprofessionalism in the investigations.

• Journalist Ajit Sahi’s 4-month investigation reveals police inaction
• Appears to be a pattern in around 30 similar lynchings: Sahi
• Lynching cases, including Pehlu Khan’s, likely to be clubbed and moved to courts

10 LOOPHOLES

1. The FIR says that the police first heard of Pehlu Khan at 4:24 am on April 2. The incident happened around 7 pm on April 1 and just 2 km from the police station.

2. Even though the police had not heard of the incident till the early hours of April 2, the dying declaration of Pehlu Khan had already been recorded by the police at 11:50 pm on April 1.

3. It was in fact the police who had brought Khan and his son to the hospital half an hour after the lynching took place on April 1. But The FIR however does not name the policemen as witnesses.

4. Pehlu Khan, a resident of Nuh in Haryana, was a stranger in Alwar and yet named the six as his assailants as well as the right-wing organisations that they worked for. The police ignored the dying declaration and gave all the 6 a clean chit.

5. The alibi the six came up with was that they were at a gaushala at the time of the lynching. Coincidentally, one of the accused is the caretaker of the gaushala and the eyewitnesses to the alibi are all employees of the caretaker.

6. The six also said in their alibi that their mobile phones were not at the crime scene. The police chose to take this as conclusive evidence.

7. The accused were absconding for 5 months but mysteriously appeared before the police when called and recorded their statements that they were not at the crime scene.

8. If the above was not enough, the post mortem report is another revelation. Three government doctors at Behror said the death was due to injuries sustained during the attack.

9. The police chose to overlook the report of government doctors and instead relied upon the testimony of doctors at a private hospital Kailash Hospital, which coincidentally belongs to Union minister Mahesh Sharma.

10. The private doctors said Pehlu Khan was fine when he came to the hospital but at the same time admitted that he was bleeding from the nose and complaining of chest pain. The doctors concluded Khan died of a heart attack.

Here’s a timeline of the case:

April 1, 2017: Pehlu Khan and few others were returning from Jaipur to his village in Nuh, Haryana, carrying cows.
Ø A group of cow vigilantes stopped them on Behror highway and started thrashing them over suspicion that the bovines were being illegally transported.
Ø Pehlu Khan was seriously injured and rushed to a hospital.
Ø His mates in the van also received injuries.

April 2, 2017: Instead of registering a case against the mob that thrashed Khan and his mates, Rajasthan Police register a complaint against Khan and his sons Irshad and Arif under the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995.

April 3, 2017: Pehlu Khan succumbs to his injuries at around 7 PM in the hospital.

April 5, 2017: Police file a murder case against the attackers and put a reward of Rs 5,000 for any information leading to the arrest of the suspects.
Ø FIR lodged against the gau rakshaks under IPC Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 147 (destruction of property), 308 (culpable homicide) and 379 (theft). After Khan’s death, the police have added Section 302 (murder) as well.
Ø Police arrest 3 people in connection with the case.

April 6, 2017: Reports on Pehlu Khan’s statement given to the police start emerging.
Ø In the statement, Khan had named gau rakshaks allegedly linked to Bajrang Dal and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP).

April 7, 2017: The Rajasthan government submits a preliminary report to the Home Ministry about the incident.
Ø One more arrest made in connection with the case, taking the total number of arrests to 4.
Ø MHA constitutes a special team to investigate and arrest the culprits.
Ø The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issues notice to Rajasthan government in the lynching of Pehlu Khan in Alwar by cow vigilantes.
Ø Commission also asks Union Home Ministry to inform about the steps being taken to deal with such incidents in the country.

April 9, 2017: Alwar Police arrests 2 more people in connection with the case, taking the number of arrests to 6.

April 20, 2017: Vipin Yadav, one of the six people named in the FIR lodged after Khan’s death, is compared with freedom fighter Bhagat Singh by a self-styled god-woman.

May 3, 2017: A 17-year-old youth detained by the Alwar Police in connection with the Pehlu Khan lynching case.
Ø The accused, who is a school student, was identified on the basis of a video in which a mob is seen assaulting Khan and others.

May 11, 2017: Rajasthan Police changes the investigation officer (IO) in the case.
Ø The probe is taken away from the deputy SP of Alwar police and handed over to an additional SP of Jaipur rural police.

May, 2017: Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje breaks her silence over increasing mob violence. Says, “Mob violence is unacceptable and those found guilty will be severely punished”.

June 12, 2017: Around 50 cow vigilantes target officials of the Tamil Nadu government transporting cows from Jaisalmer to their state, pelt stones at a truck and block National Highway 15 on suspicion of cattle smuggling in Rajasthan’s Barmer district.

June 16, 2017: A CPI-ML worker Zafar Khan was allegedly lynched by civic sanitation workers in Rajasthan’s Pratapgarh district when he tried to stop the civic body workers from photographing women defecating in the open.

July 9, 2017: Alwar lynching case is transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department – Crime Branch (CB-CID). This is the third time the case changed hands.

August 31, 2017: Rajasthan High Court grants bail to 19-year-old Vipin Yadav.

September 13, 2017: Rajasthan Police gives a clean chit to six men accused in the killing of Pehlu Khan.
The police came to the decision based on statements of the staff of a cow shelter and mobile phone records, a daily reported.

Related Articles:

1.  Cow Slaughter Prevention Laws in India https://cjp.org.in/cow-slaughter-prevention-laws-in-india/
2.  Murder of Pehlu Khan
3.  Shocking! Alwar lynching victim Pehlu Khan chargsheeted posthumously by the Congress government

The post Judgement in Pehlu Khan Case tomorrow: 2017 Lynching, Alwar appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The trial has been completed on Wednesday two years after Pehlu Khan, the dairy farmer from Nuh, who was lynched by a mob at least 200 people who called themselves as ‘gau rakshaks’ or cow vigilantes.

After hearing the final arguments in the case against the accused, additional district judge of the local court Sarita Swami posted the case for judgment on 14 August. And about 47 witnesses have given their statements including 2 sons of Pehlu Khan who survived the mob assault.
Pehlu Khan, 55 years and 6 others were travelling back to their village in Nuh after purchasing cows and calves from a cattle fair in Jaipur, Rajasthan on April 1. Pehlu Khan wanted to increase the milk production in his dairy and had purchased the cows for this purpose.

They were not convinced even when Pehlu Khan and others showed them the legal documents of the purchase they had made at the fair or when they were told the cows were purchased for their dairy. The frenzied Hindutva mob tore up the documents and beat Pehlu Khan, his 2 sons and others who were with them with sticks and rods.

Pehlu Khan succumbed to the injuries and died on April 4, 2017. And the others were seriously injured. The mob also robbed these persons of their cell phones and money.

The police had registered cases against some of the accused for voluntarily causing hurt, wrongful restrain and culpable homicide and later added murder after the death of Pehlu Khan.

All the accused are out on bail at present.

The government of Rajasthan has also registered a case against the victims Pehlu Khan, his sons and another person for allegedly smuggling cows in May 2019.
 
Courtesy: Two Circle

The post Pehlu Khan lynching case: Judgment on 14th August appeared first on SabrangIndia.

As reported in the Indian Express, the latest chargesheet, consisting of Pehlu Khan’s name, along with the owner of the pick-up truck that was used for transporting the cattle on April 1, 2017, when the lynching took place near Behror, was prepared on December 30 last year, days after the Congress party came to power in Rajasthan. The chargesheet was presented in the court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate in Behror on May 29 this year. 

Speaking to the Indian Express, Khan’s eldest son Irshad (25), who is named in the chargesheet, said, “We lost our father in the attack by cow vigilantes and now we have been charged as cow smugglers. We had hoped that the new Congress government in Rajasthan will review and withdraw the case against us but now a chargesheet has been filed against us. We hoped for justice after the government change but that didn’t happen.” Khan’s younger son, Aarif, has also been named in the chargesheet.

Khan and his sons have been charged under sections 5, 8 and 9 of the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (RBA) (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995 and Rules, 1995.

“After complete investigation in the matter, offences under section 5, 8, 9 RBA Act has been proved against accused Irshad, Aarif and Pehlu Khan while offences under Section 6 RBA Act has been proved against accused Khan Mohammed,” states the current chargesheet filed against FIR number 253/17 of Behror police station, Alwar.

Section 5 of the RBA Act, 1995 and Rules, 1995 pertains to prohibition of the export of bovine animals for the purpose of slaughter and regulation of temporary migration or export for other purposes. According to Section 6, the transporter is also an abettor and is liable for the same punishment as the person committing the offence. Section 8 is about the penalty for such offences while Section 9 mentions punishment for causing hurt to a bovine animal.

AIMIM chief, Asaduddin Owaisi, took to Twitter to express his disapproval of the Congress government’s move. He tweeted, “@Congress in “Power” is replica of BJP ,Muslims of Rajasthan must realise this,reject such individuals/organisations who are brokers of congress party,& start developing their own independent political platform ,70 years is a long time please CHANGE.”

Pehlu Khan (55) was a dairy farmer from Nuh village in Haryana. On March 31, 2017, he left for Jaipur with his sons Irshad and Arif and a few other dairy farmers, to purchase cows so that he could increase milk production. He got a certificate from civic authorities stating that the purchase was for dairy production. 

However, on April 1, 2017, as Pehlu Khan and his companions were returning to their village with their cows, they were attacked by cow vigilantes at the Jaipur-Delhi National Highway in Alwar, Rajasthan. Nearly 200 Gau Rakshaks surrounded the group and violently attacked them. The men accused Khan of transporting the cows for slaughter. Though Khan showed them the documents of his purchase that clearly stated that the cows had been bought for dairy farming, the Gau Rakshaks disregarded the paperwork and physically assaulted Khan and his companions. Strikingly, the incident took place at a spot that was only 2 kilometers from the local police station. Khan lost his life in the hospital, two days after the brutal attack.

Just before dying, Khan had named the six accused who had attacked him in a statement before the police. Instead of treating Khan’s statement as a dying declaration and the final truth, the police filed an FIR against Khan under the aforementioned sections of the RBA Act, 1995. Notably, the charges filed against the assailants were milder and they were all given a clean chit in September 2017 based on some dubious testimony by sympathisers of the cow protection cause.

While BJP is infamous for its Hindutva ideology with our Prime Minister not even acknowledging the rampant increase in such crimes of cow vigilantism, this move comes as a shocker considering that the Congress is now ruling Rajasthan as opposed to BJP when the heinous incident took place.
A brief of State-specific Cow Slaughter Prevention Laws can be read here.

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The post Shocking! Alwar lynching victim Pehlu Khan chargsheeted posthumously by the Congress government 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.

 
 “It is well known that extortionists under the garb of ‘gaurakshaks’ are roaming the streets looking for a prey. If those carrying cows are able to pay the sum demanded, then they are allowed to go or else fired at and killed. This time too this has been the case, as reported by activists from the ground level.” The PUCL has collated this information from activists working at the ground level. “After having studied collectively with others activists, the lynchings in Mewat area of Rajasthan, it has become clear to the PUCL that Akbar Khan who had bought two cows from village Ladpur, Ramgarh tehsil, Alwar district and was taking back the cows in the night to his own village Kol near Firozpur Jhirka, Mewat, Haryana, was killed due to extortion. He was killed in Jungle Lalawandi, Ramgarh. It is well known that extortionists under the garb of Gaurakshaks are roaming the streets looking for a prey. If those carrying cows are able to pay the sum demanded, then they are allowed to go or else fired at and killed. This time too this has been the case, as reported by activists from the ground level.”
 
Facts of the Case
 
Reportedly, Akbar Khan bought two cows from village Ladpur, Ramgarh tehsil, Alwar district and was taking the cows back in the night to his own village Kolgaon near Firozpur Jhirka in Mewat, Haryana. He was accompanied by another man, Aslam. Suddenly, a group of people started thrashing them, as per Subhash Sharma, the officer at Ramgarh police station.  The murder of Akbar is the complete failure of Rajasthan government in protecting Muslims, in particular dairy farmers from the killer “Gaurakshaks”, who are basically extortionists, the statement records. The Ramgarh police brought the deceased Akbar Khan to Alwar and lodged an FIR 0321/18 under Sections 143, 341, 323, 302, 34 etc. of IPC at the police station.
 
Since 2017, incidents of lynching had increased pointing to the deliberate subversion of the law and order machinery. Three incidents took place in that year alone:

• May 30  2015, Abdul Gaffar Querishi, Birloka, Didwana tehsil, Nagaur district
• April 11, 2017 Pehlu Khan, Behror thana, Alwar district
• June, 16, 2017 Zafar Khan, Pratapgarh town, Pratapgarh district
• September 10,  2017 Bhagtaram Meena, neem ka thaana Sikar district.
• November 12, 2017, Umar Mohammed, a resident of Ghatmatika Pahadi, near Pahadi Kaman killed near RamgarahTehsil, Alwar

 Lawlessness on the Rise

It was not  merely lynching, but police encounters too had increased in frequency in cities such as Alwar, especially targeting Mev Muslims in the name of picking cows, it added. The civil rights body has also questioned the government on its inability to bring a halt to the “bloody madness” and alleged that the supposed Gaurakshaks have the full support of the police and administration. It highlighted, how Pehlu Khan’s killers roam around with impunity as his acquaintances, Azmat and Rafiq still face cases related to cow smuggling. Similarly, Zafar Khan’s killers too, are roaming scot free. Moreover, the eye witnesses in Umar’s case were lodged into jail making the cynical pattern of victims being made accused complete. Expressing concern over this prevalent culture of impunity to the killers, said, “There seems to be complete impunity to the killers, with the Home minister Gulab singh Kataria going on record that Gau Rakshaks to good work, after Pehlu khan was killed”.
 
All the killers named by Pehlu Khan were thrown out of the purview of investigation and cases of cow smuggling are still being faced by Pehlu khan’s companions, Azmat and Rafiq. Todate Zafar khans killers are roaming free and the eye witnesses in the Umar case were thrown into jail. In Bhagtaram’s case nothing happened, till the High Court intervened earlier this month in July. There seems to be complete impunity to the killers, with the Home minister Gulab singh Kataria going on record that Gau Rakshaks ‘do good work,’ after Pehlu khan was killed.
 
Among the demands made in the statement were sharp questions on whether or not the government of Rajasthan had any plans of implementing Supreme Court guidelines in which it has clearly made the Centre and the state responsible for lynching, and has said mobocracy will not be allowed. Further, it has said that all states should make nodal officers and there should be immediate arrests and filing of chargesheets as well as fast track courts and maximum punishment.
 
Besides there are specific demands made by PUCL:

• The transfer of the case to an independent agency, SIT or under the IG
• The arrest of Akbar Khan’s killers immediately
• The restoration of his cows to the family
• Compensation of Rs. 25 lakh and land to the family, a government job to the kin.
• Immediate protection to eye witness, Aslam be given protection.
• Ensure that no false case of cow smuggling be filed against Akbar and Aslam.
• Dismissal that the Ramgarh SHO be dismissed from duty as the onus is on the State to protect the people from lynching.  
• Rajasthan Home Minister give a plan for the protection of dairy farmers particularly the Meos in Mewat region.

 
PUCL has I also urged that no cases related to cow smuggling should be filed against Akbar and Aslam. Moreover, that the Ramgarh SHO should be dismissed from his duty. It has asked the Home minister to give a plan for the protection of dairy farmers particularly the Mevs in Mevat region.
 
Finally, the PUCL has demanded from the CM that there should be an immediate halt to the cases of lynching.
 
https://cjp.org.in/lynching-timeline/

Image Courtesy: Indian Express

The post Extortion not Cow Smuggling behind Akbar Khan’s murder: Alwar appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
Picking up from a previously launched smear campaign where the focus was on making Pehlu Khan and his sons look like cattle smugglers, determined to sell the cattle for slaughter and beef consumption, the chargesheet submitted before a Behror court on January 24, 2018, says Pehlu and his companions were cattle smugglers.
 
The police’s claim is based on the absence of any documents to prove that the cattle were purchased for dairy farming. They have failed to acknowledge that the cow vigilantes had torn up and thrown away the documents, thereby destroying evidence.
 
The Murder of Pehlu Khan
On April 1, 2017, Pehlu Khan, his sons Irshad and Arif a few other companions were driving up along the Jaipur-Delhi highway in Rajasthan with a few cows they had purchased at a cattle fair in Jaipur. They 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.
 
How the cops botched up the case
 

• Pehlu Khan’s statement was not recorded in the presence of a magistrate, but before the police in the Intensive Care Unit of Kailash Hospital in Behror area of Alwar.
• This statement should have been treated as Pehlu Khan’s dying declaration. It wasn’t.
• Instead of focusing on the accused, the police filed an FIR against Pehlu Khan under sections 5 and 9 of the Rajasthan Bovine Animals (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration) Act 1995.
• The police only charged the accused under section 147 (rioting), 143 (unlawful assembly), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 308 (culpable homicide) and 379 (theft). After Pehlu Khan’s death, section 308 was replaced with section 302 (murder).
• The accused were never charged under harsher sections like destruction of evidence or criminal conspiracy, even though it is evident that the attack was planned.
• Also, the names of the six accused named by Pehlu Khan in his dying declaration, were subsequently removed from the FIR when a CID probe, based on cell phone location, found no evidence of the six ever having been at the crime scene.

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