Outrage and shock followed reports of Rajasthan Police filing a chargesheet against a man lynched to death over two years ago by a group of ‘gau rakshaks’. The incident happened under BJP government when Vasundhara Raje was chief minister, but the chargesheet came under the current government headed by Ashok Gehlot.

Pehlu Khan, a dairy farmer, was beaten to death by ‘gau rakshaks’ (cow vigilantes) in April 2017 when he was transporting cattle. Rajasthan Police have named him posthumously in the chargesheet filed in the court, accusing him of cow smuggling.

Earlier, Pehlu Khan’s family had claimed they had valid papers and permits to show they were transporting cattle lawfully but the attackers tore up the papers and started beating them up.

Pehlu Khan was a 55-year-old resident of Jaisinghpur village of Nuh district in Mewat. He and his two sons had left village to purchase cattle in order to increase milk produce for Ramzan. They were on their way back with cows that they had bought at a cattle fair in state capital Jaipur to their home in Haryana, when a group of self-proclaimed gau rakshaks stopped them on the Jaipur-Delhi National Highway. Surrounded by a mob of cow vigilantes, Khan had tried to save himself by showing his purchase receipts, but the mob beat them up.

As is the practice in such mob lynchings, the assault was recorded on a cell-phone and circulated. It showed a group of men grabbing Pehlu Khan by the neck, throwing him to the ground and kicking and hitting him. Khan died in hospital two days later.

Rajasthan Police registered separate First Information Reports (FIRs) in the case, one against eight people who allegedly lynched Pehlu Khan, another against him and his sons for transporting cattle allegedly without the district collector’s permission and one against transporter.

All the eight accused are out on bail and two of them are untraceable, reported NDTV.

The latest chargesheet was filed by the Rajasthan government in the second FIR. The case against Pehlu Khan will be closed as he has died, but it will continue against his sons. The chargesheet also names 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.

The latest chargesheet, in which Pehlu Khan has been posthumously charged, was prepared on December 30 last year, after the new Congress government came into power in Rajasthan that month. It was presented in the court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate in Behror on May 29 this year.

The chargesheet accuses Khan and his sons under sections 5, 8 and 9 of the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995 and Rules, 1995, reported The Indian Express (IE).

Khan’s eldest son Irshad (25), who is named in the chargesheet, told IE: “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.”

Last year, the previous BJP government in Rajasthan had filed a similar chargesheet against Azmat and Rafique, two associates of Khan who were also attacked by the mob that also targeted the truck driver Arjun. Jagdish Prasad, the owner of the pick-up, was also charged under Section 6 of the Act.

“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.

In 2017, police filed two separate FIRs under the RBA Act because two separate pick-ups were attacked – one owned by Jagdish and driven by Arjun and in the second pick-up, owned by Mohammed, Pehlu Khan and his sons were aboard.

While one case was filed against Azmat, Rafique, Arjun and later Jagdish, in which the chargesheet was filed last year, a second FIR was filed against Pehlu Khan and his two sons.

In the second case, Mohammed was also made an accused after police found during the probe that he owned the pick-up in which Pehlu was travelling.

Section 5 of the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) 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.

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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.

The issue soon snowballed into a political controversy, with Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi questioning the silence of “selective liberals”.

AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi also criticised the Congress government for the chargesheet and called it a “replica” of the BJP. “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,” he tweeted.