suchincidentshadthepotentialto
dividepeople.As thefamilylostits
breadwinner,theAIKSalsohelped
the familymonetarily.
In the December 2018Rajasthan
Assemblyelections, the Congress un-
seatedthe BJP and formedthe gov-
ernment.AshokGehlot,whotook
chargeas ChiefMinister, did notor-
dera freshinvestigationintothe
case,neither did he doanything
about the charge sheet filed in
December 2018 thatnamed Pehlu
Khanandthree othersas accused
underSections 5, 8 and9 of the Ra-
jasthanBovine Animal(Prohibition
of Slaughter andRegulationof Tem-
poraryMigration or Export) Act,
1995.
WhileSection5 prohibits“theex-
portof bovineanimal for the purpose
of slaughter”andregulatesthe “tem-
porarymigrationor exportfor other
purposes”, Section8 pertainsto pen-
altiesfor violatingprovisionsof Sec-
tion5, andSection 9 pertainsto
punishmentfor causinghurtto the
animals. Thestringentregulations
involvingthetransportationof an-
imals,especiallythe cowandits pro-
geny, and the various permits
associated withthem were intro-
ducedby BJP-led governments.
TheActwasenactedin 1995by
the BJP stalwart Bhairon Singh
Shekhawat,whowaswellintohis
thirdtermas ChiefMinister.It was
feltthattheexistinglaw,theRa-
jasthanPreservationof Certain An-
imalsAct,1950,wasnot adequateto
prevent the intentionalkilling of the
cowandits progeny. In 2018,the
BJPgovernmentled by Vasundhara
Rajemadeamendmentsto theAct
thatgivethe authoritiesmorepower
to makearrestsandseizevehicles
usedin theillegaltransportationof
the cowandits progeny.
Thechargesheet againstPehlu
Khanmentionsthat “theaccused
PehluKhandiedon April3, 2017”.
TheBehrormagisterial courttook
cognisance of thechargesheeton
May29, 2019.
AsadHyat Khan,an advocate
whohasbeenhelping PehluKhan’s
familyin the cases,saidtwoapplica-
tionswerefiled in the AlwarSessions
Courtdemandingthatthe extrajudi-
cialconfessionmadeby theprime
accusedto a televisionchannelbe
consideredas evidenceandthatthe
investigationagainstthe six persons
namedby Pehlu Khanbe reopened.
“Allsix persons weregivena clean
chitby the CB-CID[CrimeBranch-
CrimeInvestigation Department].
PehluKhan’s dying declaration was
the basisfor thefirst informationre-
port[FIR],” he toldFrontline. Four
otherspersons, including twosonsof
PehluKhan,hadalsonamedthe six
personsas havingled the assaultand
instigated others.Thetwoapplica-
tionswereexpected to comeup on
July10 in theSessions Courtin
Alwar.
In March 2019,the Ashok Gehlot
governmentorganiseda gauraksha
sammelan,or cowprotectioncon-SHAHBAZKHAN/PTIChiefMinister
AshokGehlotdid
notorder
afresh
investigation
intothecase
ordoanything
aboutthe
chargesheet.
vention,wherehe assuredtheown-
ersof cowsheltersthathe would
increasethe amountof grantgivento
them.Thegrantrateswere hikedthe
samemonth.TheCongressgovern-
mentinitiatednewmeasuresfor cow
protection andpreservationunder
theGopalandepartment, a depart-
mentcreatedby theprevious BJP
government.
Theinitiativesintroducedunder
theGopalandepartmentearly this
yearwereseenas stepstakenwithan
eyeon theLokSabhaelectionin
May.It is anothermatterthatdes-
pitethe softHindutvapoliciesof the
Congress government,theBJPwon
all 25 LokSabhaseats.‘MOTIVATEDCASE’
Facedwitha barrageof criticismre-
garding the inclusion of Pehlu
Khan’snamein thechargesheet,
ChiefMinister AshokGehlotgavean
assurance that the government
wouldreinvestigate thecaseif dis-
crepancieswerefound.Butit is not a
questionof discrepanciesalone.In a
strongly worded statement, the
People’sUnionfor CivilLiberties
(PUCL)said the case was a “motiv-
atedone”fromthebeginningand
thatthe gaurakshaksandthe police
authorities hada patternin these
murderswherethevictimsandthe
survivorsof the violencewere“crim-
inalised anddefamedby the killersas
cowsmugglers”.
ThePUCLstatement pointedout
thaton thedayof theincident“the
twovehicles hadthreedairy farmers
andtwoof Pehlu’ssons. Theywere
carryingthe ‘Ravanna’, the acknow-
ledgement receipt, of the Jaipur
NagarNigam[themunicipal body].”
PehluKhanhadboughttwocowsfor
Rs.45,0 00 andAzmat Khan had
purchased another two for
Rs.75,000, mainly milchcattle.The
PUCLhadinsistedthatthepolice
should have taken cognisance of
theirpastmilksalerecordsbefore
bookingthem.
It said thatthereweresevenlynch-
ing-relateddeathsbetween 2015 and
2018 andfive of themtookplacein
2017.“Thepresentgovernmentdid
notbotherto inquireintothesefalse
casesor presenta strongprosecution