Raheem Khan, IndiaTomorrow.net,
Jaipur, April 25: The protest against the lynching of Haryana dairy farmer Pahlu Khan entered the second day here with a number of eminent persons attending the event outside the state Assembly. They are demanding probe into the Alwar lynching under the supervision of the Supreme Court of India.
On 1st April, a gang of self-styled cow vigilantes (Gau Rakshaks) attacked Haryana’s dairy farmer Pehlu Khan and four other Muslim dairy farmers in Alwar district of the state when they were returning after purchasing some cows and calves from a government-run fair in Jaipur. They were brutally beaten up by the mob. They had valid papers from the Municipal authorities of Jaipur. But the attackers didn’t heed. Pahlu Khan, 50, succumbed to injuries in hospital. Azmat, another victim who got serious injuries in his backbone, is not able to walk. He is under treatment now.
The day 2 of the protest saw Pehlu Khan’s family members including his uncle Hussain Khan and Azmat’s brother Yusuf.
Besides, women activists Farah Naqvi and Kavita Krishnan, Gujarat Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, CPI-ML leader Md. Salim, Rajasthan FDCA president Sawai Singh, JIH Secretary General Mohammad Salim Engineer, Rajasthan PUCL president Kavita Shrivastava, WPI Rajasthan president Er. Rashid Husain and SIO Rajasthan president Shahid Khan also attended the protest demonstration.
On day 1, addressing the protesters, Prof. V.S. Vyas, Vice-President, Rajasthan Planning Board said: Farmers and cow rearers are economically so closely linked that cow vigilante attacks will only disrupt Rajasthan’s economic condition.
Former IAS Harsh Mandar, who participated in the rally, described this as an embarrassing incident to the people of India and said that he himself is ashamed that the majority community is not standing against this daily crime.
He gave the example of the US and said that when the newly elected President Donald Trump banned the entry of Muslims from seven countries in the US, the common citizens and lawyers of the locality reached the airports, protesting against it and taking legal action against it.
He said that the values of this country’s brotherhood and Vasudeva Kutumbkam have been sidelined by today’s pro-Hindu politics.
Dalit youth leader from Gujarat Jignesh Mevani said that all places — from Ahmedabad to Alwar — where violence in the name of cow protection has happened have to be connected and we must undertake a rally.
The protesters also demanded immediate arrest of the assaulters named in the FIR related to the murder of Pahlu Khan.
Other demands were suspension of SHO of Bahrore police station, transfer of Alwar Superintendent of Police.
More than three weeks have passed since the incident, but the state government has not announced any compensation for the victims.
The civil rights activists demanded Rs one crore as compensation for the family of Pahlu Khan and Rs 25 lakh each for the injured.
