Won’t tolerate such incidents: Raje

ALWAR LYNCHING 23 days later, CM breaks silence, says action will be taken We will not tolerate such incidents in Rajasthan... No guilty person will be spared.

Twenty-three days after a 55-year-old dairy farmer died after allegedly being attacked by cow vigilantes in Alwar, Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje Tuesday said such incidents will not be tolerated in her state. This is the first time that Raje has spoken on the incident that shook the nation and found resonance in Parliament too.

“We will not tolerate such incidents in Rajasthan,” Raje told reporters outside the state Assembly.

She said investigation in the case is and police have already made several arrests.

The CM said facts of the case will emerge in the investigation and necessary action will be taken based on that. “No guilty person will be spared,” she added.

Raje’s statement came a day after state home minister Gulab Chand Kataria termed the victim, Haryana resident Pehlu Khan, a cow smuggler. During a discussion in the assembly, Kataria said that “a smuggler has no religion” and claimed that Pehlu Khan did not have valid papers for transporting cows. His comments had led to protests both inside and outside the assembly.

On Tuesday too, protests were held outside the assembly by civil society organizations in which members of victims’ families also participated.

Two days ago, 23 former IAS officers wrote an open letter to the CM demanding “justice” for Pehlu Khan and demanded a public statement from Raje over the incident.

Khan, who hailed from Haryana, along with four others, including his two sons, was attacked by cow vigilantes in Alwar’s Behror on April 1 when he was transporting cows. Khan had died on April 3 during treatment at a hospital, while his associates suffered injuries.