Pehlu Khan’s kin to appeal against cow smuggling charge

The sons and another relative of the 55-year-old dairy farmer, who was beaten to death by cow vigilantes in Rajasthan’s Alwar in April 2017, will move a court seeking quashing of the charge sheet filed against them for alleged cow smuggling.

They have maintained they were not transporting cattle to Haryana when Pehlu Khan, the dairy farmer, was thrashed to death. They say a statement they gave to Rajasthan police in this regard in July 2017 was ignored and four people, including Pehlu Khan’s sons, Irshad and Arif, were charged with illegal transport of bovine animals, said their lawyer Kasim Khan.

The Rajasthan police registered a case against Pehlu Khan, Irshad, 25, Arif, 22, and Khan Mohammad, 55, under different sections of the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995.

On December 30, 2018, Alwar police completed the investigation in the case and charged Irshad and Arif with cattle smuggling. The court took cognisance of the charge sheet on May 29.

Kasim Khan said the case was wrong in the first place. “They bought cattle from a weekly market in Jaipur and got ravanna [acknowledgment receipt] from the Jaipur Nagar Nigam. They were carrying them on a pickup uncovered because they had valid documents,” he said.

Alwar police superintendent Deshmukh Paris Anil said the file of the case was in court and he was unaware of the statement.