Now, pamphlets project Alwar attackers as ‘social workers’
FRESH CAMPAIGN Unsigned flyers describing the murder accused as activists, who help the police, have been distributed in Rajasthan
three weeks after a dairy farmer was lynched in Rajasthan’s Alwar by alleged cow vigilantes, a campaign has been launched to project the murder accused, who are all on the run, as “social activists” with police as their alibi.
Thousands of unsigned pamphlets titled “Gautaskari ghatna ki sacchai (The truth of the cowsmuggling incident)” are being distributed in Alwar district, giving an entirely different version of the events on April 1.
Pehlu Khan, 55, a dairy farmer from Haryana, and four other Muslims were attacked near Behror in Alwar district by alleged cow protectors (gau rakshaks) when they were transporting in two trucks cows and calves bought from a Jaipur cattle market.
Khan, who died of his injuries two days later, had told police they were assaulted by a group of men though they had permit to transport the animals.
Cow slaughter and smuggling is banned in most parts of India.
Police are already under fire for going soft on the nine accused, who find a mention in the pamphlet that says three trucks transporting cattle were intercepted by “social workers” on April 1.
The “social workers” brought the cow smugglers to the Behror police station, where station in-charge Ramesh Sinsinwar helped them take the “rescued cattle” to a gaushala in nearby Dahmi, says the flyer being distributed by the cow vigilante group Gau Raksha Dal.
The pamphlet goes on to say Om Yadav, Hukum Yadav, Naveen Sharma, Sudhir Yadav, Jagmal Singh Yadav, Sonu Tiwari, Sanjay Tiwari, Rahul Saini, Sandip Kumar and others went to the cow shed and stayed there from 6.10pm and 8pm.
The men named are accused of murdering Khan and the two hours they “spent” in the shed was the time when the dairy farmer was attacked.
The pamphlet says assistant sub-inspectors Raghuveer Meena and Vikram Jat and a head constable, who has not been named, accompanied the men to the gaushala on Sinsinwar’s instructions. “It is a matter of investigation and I don’t want to comment on this,” said Sinsinwar on Wednesday when asked about the pamphlet.
Cow vigilantes accused of lynching a Muslim dairy farmer in Rajasthan’s Alwar this month are equal to freedom fighters such as Bhagat Singh or Chandrasekhar Azad, controversial Hindu leader Sadhvi Kamal said.
In a video, the 39-year-old who prefers to call herself “didi” is purportedly seen as meeting Vipin Yadav, one of the people arrested on charges of assaulting Pehlu Khan on April 1.
“When Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad went to jail, then they were also perceived as criminals and bad people but are now known as heroes. Similarly, people such as Yadav will also be known as heroes in the future for protecting gau mata,” she told HT.
Vipin is one of five people arrested on the basis of footage of the assault but isn’t named in the FIR filed on the basis of Khan’s statement before his death. The police are battling charges of inaction in the case. None of the six named in the complaint have been arrested.
Swine Flu or H1N1 related deaths are on a steady rise in Maharashtra compared to last year, according to data by the state epidemiology department. So far this year, the virus has claimed 127 lives, out of which 25 were reported in the last two weeks. A total of 25 deaths and 82 cases were recorded throughout 2016.
Experts said fluctuations in temperatures and the wearing off of vaccines could be the reasons for the spurt. State officials said 644 cases have been reported since January this year.
“As a precaution, we have intensified screening and surveillance for all viral infections and are vaccinating high-risk groups, such as diabetics, people with high blood pressure,,” Dr Pradeep Awate , head, state epidemiology department.
Another reason more cases are being recorded now is because of poor herd immunity among the people, said a state official. The term refers to how immune a significant section of the population is. “After the H1N1 epidemic in 2015, when 906 deaths were reported, many people were vaccinated. This not only protected them from the virus, but also checked its spread. However, the effect of the vaccine lasts only for 8 months, post which not many people got vaccinated again,” the official said.