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55-year-old Pehlu Khan succumbed to his injuries a couple of days back. The post-mortem report says that he died of his injuries. Media has reached his village and is reporting extensively on his death. His sons say that he was dragged out of his vehicle on a state highway and beaten to pulp. But, still, nobody killed Pehlu Khan.
In fact, the incident didn’t even occur on the ground. A case has been registered against 200 unidentified cow vigilantes, three alleged assailants have been nabbed. A cash reward of Rs 5,000 has been announced for 6 absconding main accused. However, nothing of that sort happened in Alwar. No one really killed Pehlu Khan.
The fact that no one killed Pehlu Khan came out in Rajya Sabha today when a senior minister in Narendra Modi government, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi informed the House that no such incident took place and the ruckus in the House was based on media reports that were rubbished by the state government. “No such incident, as being reported, has taken place on the ground. The media reports that are being cited, the concerned state government has already condemned,” he said.
The state government that the minister cited had reacted on the incident. Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria had already said both sides were to be blamed as illegal transport of cows was banned in the state. Only that the transport was not illegal. Pehlu Khan’s son Irshad told the Indian Express that they were not smuggling cows. They had bought the cows and also had the permit to transport them. They had the receipt of the Jaipur Municipal Corporation with serial number 89942 of the purchase. However, despite having the documents, an FIR against them has been registered. While nobody knows what the FIR is for, our wild guess is that the FIR was registered against Pehlu Khan for being beaten up and dying. He should not have died. He gave a bad name to the pious cause of gau rakshaks. He gave a bad name to the movement. In fact, he should have lived on with the humiliation and the injuries to his heart and soul. As he himself died, no one actually killed Pehlu Khan.
Dying was not the only mistake Pehlu Khan made. Doing everything according to the law is not enough. Why didn’t he inform the cow vigilantes– the self-proclaimed custodians of the Hindu sentiments. So what if he was not a smuggler? So what if he was just a dairy farmer? How would the unsuspecting rakshaks have known that he wasn’t a smuggler? He was matching the profile of an ideal cow smuggler. And then the rakshaks are a young lot. They have religious sentiments of an aggressive nature. Cows loaded in a truck make their blood boil. Pehlu Khan should have known better. It can’t be a murder. It is an accident. Pehlu Khan just came in between cows and their rakshaks and got crushed by their hooves.
Gulab Chand Kataria says both sides were in the wrong. He can’t be more right. Gau rakshaks must operate with caution. Even if they are unconstitutional, even if their very existence is illegal, they need to have some semblance of a procedure. Of course, the state government will give them moral support by these kinds of comment, but they need to set up some processes to identify smugglers before lynching them. It is true that they epitomise lawlessness, but they must not take law into their hands like this. Before killing someone, they need to ask whether the perceived smugglers have valid documents or not: their being a Muslim and having cows in the trunk don’t make them smugglers. The rakshaks should have known better to avoid this accident.
The state government must also be chided for its role. In absence of clear guidelines, innocent gau rakshaks don’t know how to operate. Giving them a free hand is just not enough. These over-enthusiastic boys need some education. Gau raksha institutes should be opened up. Not only in Rajasthan, but in Uttar Pradesh as well. The cow traders and farmers must be educated to carry banners on their vehicles that say, I am not a smuggler, in Hindi, English, Urdu and Punjabi so that gau rakshaks don’t confuse them with smugglers.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of india.com. The writer is solely responsible for any claims arising out of the contents of this article.
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