9-year-old girl among 6 attacked by cow vigilanties in Kashmir

Cow vigilantes attacked and injured five members of a nomadic family, including a nine-year-old girl, in Reasi district of Jammu on Friday evening.

Reports said the incident took place when the nomad family, moving with its livestock, was intercepted by a large group of ‘gau rakshaks’ and beaten up with iron rods near Talwara area of Reasi in Jammu. The attackers, as per the reports, fled from the spot with the entire flock, including goats, sheep and cows, of the victim family.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police  said they have filed an FIR and arrested four ‘gau rakshaks’. “We have arrested persons involved in the attack,” a police officer said.

The victims, while narrating their ordeal, said they were beaten ruthlessly by the attackers. “Somehow we managed to flee from there. One of our children, a 10-year-old, is still missing. We don't know whether he is alive or dead. They even beat our elders very badly. They wanted to kill us and throw our bodies into the river,” Naseem Begam, one of the victims, was quoted by media as saying.

The injured, which include a 80-year-old man and a nine-year-old girl, were admitted in a local hospital for treatment.  The Muslim majority state has a large number of nomadic herder families, who travel between Jammu’s Himalayan mountains and the meadows of Kashmir Valley every year with their flocks.