Lynched in 2017, Pehlu Khan now chargesheeted by Rajasthan Police for cow smuggling

Two years after the brutal mob lynching in Alwar, the Rajasthan Police has filed a fresh chargesheet against the victim himself. According to the news agency ANI, the chargesheet accuses Pehlu Khan 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. The dairy farmer was mercilessly beaten by alleged cow vigilantes on a busy highway in Rajasthan two years ago. Even though Khan showed his attackers the valid papers for transporting the cows, the vigilantes kept on beating him. Khan suffered broken ribs and other grievous injuries. Two days later, on April 3, 2017, Khan succumb to his injuries at a private hospital.

Then Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had condemned the alleged lynching and assured "strictest possible" action. "The incident of alleged lynching of a person transporting bovines in Alwar district is condemnable. Strictest possible action shall be taken against the perpetrators," she had said. At that time Ashok Gehlot had termed the incident horrific and unfortunate. He had said the man was lynched despite Supreme Court's warnings and instructions. Two years later, Gehlot is in power in Rajasthan and the state policer has filed a chargesheet against the deceased victim.

Last year, the Supreme Court had described the cases of lynching by cow vigilantes as a crime and not merely a law and order problem. It put the onus on the states to check such incidents, saying no one can take law into their hands. The apex court had said that "horrendous acts of mobocracy" cannot be allowed to overrun the law of the land. It asked Parliament to consider enacting a new law to deal with mob lynching incidents and cow vigilantism, warning that these incidents may rise like a "Typhon-like monster" across India.

According to an Indian Express report, in 2017, state police had filed two separate FIRs under the RBA Act because two separate pick-ups were attacked.