Survivors of the cow vigilante attack wish they were dead

new delhi — On April 1, Pehlu Khan and two of his friends were returning from a cattle fair in Jaisinghpur near Jaipur, Rajasthan. Pehlu Khan was from Nuh district in Haryana. They had bought cattle and were transporting the animals back home. They were attacked by cow vigilantes. In the ensuing violence, Pehlu Khan lost his life.

This story is about Pehlu Khan’s companions, Azmat and Rafeek, who had the misfortune of surviving the proceedings on April 1, often wish themselves dead. Their families, as in the case of Pehlu Khan’s, are traditionally dairy farmers. Now that cow vigilantes seem to have pretty much taken law into their own hands, the families have no livelihood. In fact, there are thousands of cattle traders and dairy farmers are now without a job in the face of increasing cow vigilantism, and the cow-friendly policies of the government.

The bereaved family of Pehlu Khan has been receiving some sort of meagre assistance from charitable organisations. But it does not go a long way, as one of the family members said: “How can we depend on charity to take care of our daily needs?” The government has so far shown no inclination to monetarily compensate the family of the victim.

Azmat and Rafeeq, victims of the Alwar violence, are mired in deepening debts. Their families have no idea what to do as cattle, once a source of income for them, have now become a source of danger to their lives.

Both Azmat and Rafeek are bedridden. Azmat had suffered serious spinal injuries in the course of the attack. He had bought three cows at the fair for Rs75,000. That money is now gone with the cattle straying away into the wild. He had on him Rs30,000. That was snatched from him. Deprived of the family’s fortunes, and their bread earner bedridden, Azmat’s mother has no idea who to turn to. “There is not even milk in the house to feed the baby.” Azmat has a daughter who is one-year-old.

Rafeeq is no better. His body is a mass of swellings, and his nose is

The kind of work I do, involves all that. What’s the point of walking if I can’t earn a living for my family?” Azmat a cow vigilantes survivor

broken. He is now afraid of everybody and rarely gets up from bed. The little money he had saved up for business at the fair was wrested from him by the vigilantes.

Azmat’s brother, Yusuf, who works in Mathura, says that they have spent nearly Rs150,000 already on Azmat’s treatment. “I have to take him to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, every 3-4 days for treatment, and each trip costs about Rs5,000. All our savings have dried up.”

Pehlu Khan’s family is inconsolable. Says his uncle, Hussain, “If you saw the video of the incident, the man in the blue shirt had a key in his fist and was pounding Pehlu’s head with that. But no one has been arrested so far.” The attackers, he says, are easily identifiable from the video.

Khan’s 85-year-old, blind mother Angoori Begum is beside herself with grief. The family is rudderless. There has been no support from the government so far.

Although the doctors treating Azmat says he will walk, he has been asked not to lift weights or do strenuous jobs. “The kind of work I do, involves all that. What’s the point of walking if I can’t earn a living for my family?”

Rajasthan home minister Gulab Chand Kataria had described the attackers as ‘cow worshippers’ and the victims as ‘cow smugglers’. At one point he had denied the incident having taken place at all.

Pehlu, Azmat and Rafeek had proper documents to ferry cattle. But all this was not of any import to the attackers. Recently, there has been a series of attacks on cattle traders by cow vigilantes in Jammu, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, mostly marked by a lack of follow up action of the part of the police to bring attackers to book. No First Information Report has been filed against the Alwar culprits so far.

Cow protection may be all very good. It’s not clear what the government proposes to do to the significant population dependent on a trade that is suddenly seen as criminal. “Surely, they have a right to earn a living,” says an activist.