Raj HC quashes cattle smuggling case against Pehlu Khan, his two sons and driver

The Rajasthan High Court on Wednesday quashed a case against Pehlu Khan, who was lynched by cow vigilantes in April 2017, his two sons and a truck driver for allegedly illegally transporting cows for slaughter. A single-judge bench of Justice Pankaj Bhandari quashed the FIR under the Rajasthan Bovine Animals Protection Act and the charge sheet, saying there is no evidence to show that the cows were being transported for the purpose of slaughtering.

The charge sheet was filed in December last year against Irshad Khan, Aarif Khan (the two sons of Pehlu Khan) and the transporter, Khan Mohammad, in a lower court of Alwar's Behror. All the three, against whom the charge sheet was filed, had moved a petition in the high court seeking quashing of the the case.

It was contended by Advocate Kapil Gupta, appearing for the accused, that the criminal case was a sheer misuse and abuse of the process of law since there was no evidence that the cows were being transported for illegal purposes. Gupta contended that the report of medical experts established the fact they were milch cows and calves were only a month old.

There was also a receipt from the local animal market that the cows were in fact purchased for rearing them in the dairy, the lawyer submitted. Expressing happiness over the verdict, Pehlu Khan's son Irshad told PTI that they have been vindicated and expressed the hope that they will get justice from the high court in the lynching case.

Pehlu Khan (55), his two sons and a few others were transporting cows when they were allegedly stopped and thrashed by a mob near Behror in Alwar district on April 1, 2017. Khan died in hospital on April 3, triggering outrage over the murder and focusing attention on attacks by cow vigilantes.

An Alwar court had acquitted all six accused on August 14 this year in the lynching case, giving them the benefit of doubt. However, the Rajasthan government has filed an appeal in the high court against the acquittal. "We are very happy with the high court's direction today...We were not taking the cows for the purpose of slaughtering but we were attacked. Today, justice was done," Irshad said.

He said the FIR was not based on facts. "During the BJP rule, the police did not carry out a fair investigation. We are dairy farmers and were taking the cows for that purpose only. But we were wrongly blamed. Slaughtering was never the purpose," he said.

"Our family is now hopeful that my father will get justice posthumously from the high court where the state government has filed appeal against the acquittal of all the accused in the lynching case," Irshad, aged around 27 years, added. After the lower court verdict in the lynching case, the state government had constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to identify errors and irregularities in the investigation and fix responsibility on individual officers.

Khan and others were on their way to Nuh district in Haryana from Jaipur when the cow vigilantes stopped them in Behror on the Jaipur-Delhi national highway.