Pehlu's sons chargesheeted

The two sons of Pehlu Khan, the cattle farmer who was allegedly lynched for transporting cattle two years ago, have been chargesheeted by the Rajasthan Police.

Irshad (25) and Arif (22), who were accompanying their father on the day of his death were booked under sections 5, 8 and 9 of the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995 (RBA).

Section 5 of the RBA Act pertains to the prohibition of the export of bovine animals for the purpose of slaughter and has a regulation on the temporary migration or export for other purposes.

Section 6 says the transporter is also an abettor and is liable for the same punishment as the person committing the offence. Section 8 is about the penalty for such offences while Section 9 mentions punishment for causing hurt to a bovine animal.

After one prominent media organisation had falsely reported that Pehlu Khan was also booked, which went viral on social media, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who also has the charge of the home minister, took a defensive approach.

“The Congress party is ideologically committed against any kind of Lynching anywhere in the country and our government is vigilant to ensure it will not have happened again. News reported is factually incorrect. Name of Late Pehlu Khan is not there in the chargesheet submitted by Rajasthan Police in December 2018. This is a separate case which was registered and investigated under previous government in 2017-18 against Mr Arif, Mr Irshad and Mr Khan Mohd (Transporter), since accused name in the chargesheet were not present at the time of the submission in December 2018, the District court accepted the Challan on 24th May 2019. However, our government will see if investigation was done with predetermined intentions.”

Irshad, who is also an eyewitness to the lynching said, “We had high hopes from the Congress government but nothing good has happened to our family in the last two years. After the case was transferred to Behror from Alwar, things are not going in the right direction. We have lost the faith in Behror police after they gave a clean chit to six witnesses named in the FIR. We had earlier demanded that the case be shifted to Alwar instead of Behror”.

Arjun, the driver of the truck Pehlu was on and the owner of a pick-up van, Jagdish Prasad, have also been charged under section 6 of the RBA Act.