Semblance of justice

PEHLU KHAN has finally been declared innocent, two-and-a-half years after he was lynched by cow vigilantes on the groundless suspicion of cattle smuggling in Rajasthan’s Alwar district. The dairy farmer, his two sons and others were returning to their hometown Nuh in Haryana when they were stopped and thrashed on the Jaipur-Delhi national highway. Khan had a receipt from the Jaipur Municipal Corporation, clearly mentioning that they had purchased milch cows and calves for dairy rearing from an animal market. His paperwork was in order, but the bloodthirsty mob was least bothered about such niceties. Even more shockingly, despite clinching evidence of Khan’s innocence, the police went ahead with an FIR under the Rajasthan Bovine Animals (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act. Though there was no proof that the cows were being transported for the purpose of slaughtering, a chargesheet was filed in December last year. The Rajasthan High Court has rightly quashed a case which should not have been lodged in the first place.

The verdict, however, is only half the battle won for Khan’s family. In August this year, an Alwar court had acquitted all six lynching accused, giving them the benefit of the doubt. Subsequently, the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government set up a special investigation team (SIT) to identify the lapses in the investigation and nail the erring officials. The SIT submitted a damning report to the DGP, on the basis of which the government recently moved the High Court against the acquittal.

The cops who incriminated Khan on the one hand and gave the clean chit to his killers on the other should be brought to book at the earliest. Acting apparently under political pressure, they abused their power and added insult to injury to the victim’s family. Justice, as and when delivered in the lynching case as well, will not only bring a sense of closure to Khan’s kin, but also act as a deterrent to such heinous crimes. Rajasthan is already on the right track, having enacted a stringent law that makes mob lynching punishable with life sentence.