Lynching of Pehlu Khan: Difference between revisions

{{Incident infobox

|date=2017-04-01

|lat=27.8903

|lon=76.2861

|killed=1

|injured=2

|trigger=cattle transport

}}

<languages/>

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'''Pehlu Khan''' was a 55-year-old dairy farmer from Nuh district, [[Haryana]], who died on 3 April 2017, two days after a mob of cow vigilantes stopped the vehicle carrying cattle he had bought and assaulted him and his sons near Behror in Alwar district, [[Rajasthan]].<ref name="livelaw-2019-acquittal" /><ref name="aljazeera-2019" /> In August 2019 an Alwar court acquitted all six adults tried for the killing, a verdict the Rajasthan government and Khan's sons appealed to the Rajasthan High Court.<ref name="aljazeera-2019" /><ref name="wire-2021" />

Pehlu Khan was a dairy farmer from Nuh district in [[Haryana]]. In April 2017 he and his sons were travelling from Jaipur back to Nuh with cows he had bought at a cattle fair in Rajasthan.<ref name="aljazeera-2019" /><ref name="livelaw-2019-hc" /> Rajasthan's Bovine Animal Act of 1995 regulates the transport of cattle out of the state, and police later invoked that law against Khan, his sons and the driver of the vehicle.<ref name="livelaw-2019-hc" />

On 1 April 2017 cow vigilantes stopped the vehicle carrying Khan, his two sons and others at Behror, on the Jaipur–Delhi national highway, on suspicion of cow smuggling, and a mob assaulted them.<ref name="livelaw-2019-acquittal" /><ref name="livelaw-2019-hc" /> Al Jazeera, citing news agencies, reported that the mob numbered around 200 and that its members ignored Khan's assurances that the cows would not be slaughtered. Parts of the attack were recorded on mobile phones.<ref name="aljazeera-2019" /> Khan's sons survived the assault. Khan died in a hospital in Alwar on 3 April 2017.<ref name="livelaw-2019-hc" /><ref name="wire-2021" /> According to The Wire, Khan named his attackers in a dying declaration before he died.<ref name="wire-2021" />

Two FIRs were registered: one against the mob for the killing, and one against Khan, his sons and the driver for illegally transporting cattle out of the state.<ref name="livelaw-2019-hc" /> The six people Khan had named were later given a clean chit by the Rajasthan CID, and police named nine others, including two minors, as accused in the killing.<ref name="wire-2020" />

On 14 August 2019 an Alwar court acquitted all six adult accused who had been tried, giving them the benefit of the doubt.<ref name="livelaw-2019-acquittal" /> The defence said the prosecution had failed to link them to the attack, and the prosecution said the court had not accepted the video evidence.<ref name="aljazeera-2019" /> The Rajasthan government said it would appeal the verdict.<ref name="aljazeera-2019" /> A special investigation team set up by the state later reported lapses in the original probe, including in how the video was presented to the court.<ref name="wire-2020" /><ref name="livelaw-2019-hc" />

On 30 October 2019 Justice Pankaj Bhandari of the Rajasthan High Court quashed the FIR and chargesheet in the cattle-transport case against Khan's sons and the driver, finding no evidence that the cows were being taken for slaughter.<ref name="livelaw-2019-hc" /> In March 2020 the Juvenile Justice Board in Alwar found two minors guilty, the first conviction in the case.<ref name="wire-2020" />

In September 2021 a division bench of the Rajasthan High Court admitted an appeal by Khan's sons, Irshad and Arif, along with the state government's 2020 appeal against the acquittals, and issued bailable warrants against the six acquitted men to secure their appearance.<ref name="wire-2021" /> The sons argued that eyewitnesses had identified the accused and that the trial court had disregarded their testimony.<ref name="wire-2021" /> No later ruling on the appeals was found in the sources consulted.

The 2019 acquittal drew wide criticism, with allegations of a miscarriage of justice.<ref name="wire-2021" /> According to The Wire, critics pointed to the police's failure to record the names from Khan's dying declaration in his sons' statements, inadequate cross-examination of the accused's alibis, the dismissal of a confession one accused made to a television channel, and the court's refusal to admit the video footage.<ref name="wire-2021" /> The Rajasthan government under Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced an appeal.<ref name="aljazeera-2019" />

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<ref name="livelaw-2019-acquittal">{{Cite news|url=https://livelaw.in/news-updates/pehlu-khan-lynching-case-trial-court-acquits-all-6-accused--147191|title=Pehlu Khan Lynching Case : Trial Court Acquits All 6 Accused|publisher=LiveLaw|date=2019-08-14|author=PTI|access-date=2026-10-31}}</ref>