A high-level delegation of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) on 10 April visited Jaisinghpur village of Mewat in Haryana’s Nuh district and expressed sympathy with the relatives and family of Pehlu Khan, who was killed in Alwar by cow vigilantes recently. The delegation led by JIH Vice President Nusrat Ali and Secretary General Mohammad Salim Engineer guaranteed every possible help to the family of the victim and expressed their condolences on the death of Pehlu Khan to his sons Irshad and Arif, both of whom were also attacked by the gau-rakshaks. The JIH team said: “We are with the affected family in this hour of grief. We will extend all cooperation to get justice for the victims and exemplary punishment to the culprits. Civil society should come forward to help the victim’s family and protest against this cold-blooded murder in broad daylight.”
Meanwhile, a panchayat consisting of 13 tribes of Jaisinghpur village was organised in which both sons of deceased Pehlu Khan explained in detail about the whole incident. They said: “Our sole means of livelihood is selling milk. We went to the cattle market Jaipur with my father Pehlu Khan to purchase buffaloes. Since buffaloes were costlier than cows, we purchased cows to get milk during the coming Ramadan. While we were returning, they stopped our vehicle. They were on bikes. They started beating us. We showed them official purchase documents but they tore and threw them away. Even our cash was snatched and our father was beaten mercilessly. We were all severely injured and now a case of cow slaughter has been registered against us. No concrete action has been taken against the attackers. Neither the District Administrator nor any representative of the state government tried to understand our situation. We just want that our father’s killers get punished immediately.”
One of the survivors Ajmat Khan said: “The police administration gave us a tough time. In an injured condition, we were all kept for 24 hours in the police station, which has worsened our health. Our only demand is that we get justice soon. The attitude of the ruling BJP and the opposition parties of the state has been extremely disappointing.”
A delegation of Social Democratic Party of India-SDPI comprising its National Vice President Adv. Sharfuddin Ahmad, Manoj Kumar, Om Pal, Danish and others also visited the family of the victims in the village Jaisinghpur on 13 April. The so-called “Gau Rakshaks” brutally attacked and lynched Pahlu Khan and cruelly attacked and tried to kill Irshad, Arif, Rafiq and Azmat, causing grievous injuries to them. They were carrying five milch cows with relevant papers in a pickup van, after purchasing them from Jaipur Cow Fair. While on the way at Behror in District Alwar, the Gau Rakshak criminals stopped them, robbed the animals and cash and then thrashed them mercilessly. Pehlu Khan succumbed to his injuries on 3 April 2017 in Kailash Hospital.
Surprisingly, even after 10 days of the incident neither any Government official nor the Police visited the injured persons nor did they provide any financial help to the injured persons for the loss and damages. The culprits mentioned in the FIR are roaming freely and the Rajasthan Police have not taken any step to arrest them. The Governments of Haryana and Rajasthan have not declared any compensation to the victim’s orphaned family and the families of injured persons who are not in a position to provide medical treatment because of acute poverty. One of the injured persons, Azmat aged about 26 years, has got fracture in his spinal cord making him disable to move out of the bed and if proper care and treatment is not provided, may become permanently disable. Azmat has a son, wife and old parents who are totally dependent on him for their livelihood.
All the victims have no means for survival as they are agricultural labourers and milk sellers. The death of Pehlu Khan left his entire family of four sons and four daughters, some of them minors, aged father and mother, in a great distress as there is no earning hand now. Another injured person Rafiq is in a very pathetic condition with old parents, wife and three small children.
SDPI took this incident very seriously as this is a part of continuing violence perpetrated by so-called Gau Rakshak criminals, who act with impunity due to the support by the governments. SDPI has protested in several places during the last 10 days against the terror and violence instigated by the Gau Rakshak criminals and inaction from the government of Rajasthan.
SDPI warned the government that if proper action is not taken, it will be compelled to intensify the the protest movement till justice is ensured to the victims.
SDPI demands include that the criminals whose names appeared in the FIR must be arrested and full compensation of Rupees 1 crore for the death of Pehlu Khan and Rupees 40 lakhs to each of the injured persons be provided without delay.