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Man lynched on suspicion of smuggling cattle
The deceased has been identified as Babu Bhil, son of Dhanna Bhil, while Pintu Bhil, son of Var Singh Bhil, is being treated for his wounds in a hospital, police said.
A 25-year-old man was beaten to death, and another seriously injured, when a mob attacked them in Rajasthan’s Chittorgarh district on Sunday night, accusing them of smuggling cattle, police said. A case of murder has been registered and up to eight people have been detained.
The deceased has been identified as Babu Bhil, son of Dhanna Bhil, while Pintu Bhil, son of Var Singh Bhil, is being treated for his wounds in a hospital, police said.
On the intervening night of June 13-14, the two picked up three oxen from Begun town in Chittorgarh and were driving towards their village in Madhya Pradesh when they were intercepted near Bhilkhanda by a group of locals wielding sticks, said Begun circle officer Rajendra Singh.
“The local men alleged that they were smuggling cows and attacked them. However, the animals were oxen. The injured man (Pintu) has said that he and Babu purchased the oxen from Begun and were taking them to their village for farming,” Singh said.
The officer said Pintu could not produce any document to prove the purchase, so the seller was contacted who verified the purchase.
“Around seven to eight people are being questioned in custody. The remaining accused will be identified and arrested soon,” said Ravi Meherda, additional director general of police (crime).
Rajasthan was rocked by a mob lynching incident in 2017 when a 55-year-old dairy farmer named Pehlu Khan was beaten to death by a mob near Behror in Alwar district on the Jaipur-Delhi national highway. Khan was transporting cows to his hometown Nuh in Haryana after buying them at a cattle fair in Jaipur. The mob waylaid Khan and his son and accused them of smuggling cattle even though he produced papers to prove that the consignment was legal. Khan died at a private hospital two days later.
In 2019, the new Congress government led by Ashok Gehlot introduced an anti-mob lynching law in the form of the Rajasthan Protection from Lynching Bill, 2019. Under it, lynching offences were to be tried by a sessions court and be cognisable, non-bailable and non-compoundable.
According to the new law, a person who commits an act of lynching which causes the death of the victim, will face rigorous life imprisonment and a fine of Rs1 lakh to ₹5 lakh. In case of grievous hurt, the punishment will be jail up to 10 years and a fine of ₹25,000 to ₹3 lakh, and for other injuries, the punishment is a jail term of up to seven years and a fine of ₹one lakh.
