Cow rakshaks shoot man, dump body on rly tracks

There seems to be no respite from the cultural violence launched in the name of ‘Gau rakshaks.’ This time, the cow vigilantes allegedly shot a man and dumped his body on the railway tracks. His crime: he was suspected of transporting cows for slaughter near the Rajasthan-Haryana border. Two of his associates were thrashed.

The allegation that a squad of cow vigilantes was behind the attack has emanated from the family of the deceased. The incident took place in Alwar district on November 10. TV channels cited sources as saying that Ummar Muhammad (37) and two others were allegedly transporting cows from Mewat in Haryana to Bharatpur in Rajasthan but they were waylaid by the mob and assaulted

While police refused to comment, official sources confirmed that Ummar had died of a bullet wound. His body has been kept in a mortuary at Shehr hospital. He is survived by his wife and eight children.

It is claimed that Ummar and others were not ferrying cows for the purpose of slaughter. One of the persons in the mob that surrounded the vehicle in which the cows were being ferried had claimed that they were working for a "Gau Raksha group".

The incident has sent ripples in the Mewat community, with residents launching a protest. Relatives of the victim alleged that policemen too were present when the crime took place but did nothing to stop the attackers. They have demanded immediate arrest of the accused, but two days after the murder, no FIR in the case has been registered so far.

Sher Muhammad, chairman of the Meo Panchayat of Alwar, told News18 that villagers had claimed the people who fired the bullets were not in any uniform. “The attack took place at around five in the morning.’’

The Panchayat leader alleged that the killers were not done with Ummar even after shooting him and tried to show the death as an accident

by dumping him on the tracks and waiting for a moving train to run over his body. Though the body was severed by the train, the bullet was found lodged in the body part that remained intact.

Alwar had made headlines in April after a dairy owner, Pehlu Khan was beaten to death on the suspicion of cattle smuggling. A video of the 55-year-old being hauled by the neck, thrown to the ground and kicked had sparked nationwide outrage. The Rajasthan police later gave a clean chit to the six assailants he had named in his dying declaration.