Lynching in the name of cows is back. This time, cow vigilantes have killed a man they accused of smuggling cows.
In a video that has now gone viral, a mob is seen brutally thrashing men who were transporting cows in Rajasthan's Alwar.
One man among them, Pehlu Khan succumbed to his injuries, two days after the attack, said a report by the NDTV.
Pehlu Khan and his four associates had reportedly produced documents to show that they had bought the cows from a "Pashu Mela" or fair in Jaipur. Nevertheless, they were dragged out of their truck and mercilessly beaten up in the middle of the highway.
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"Police got information that some people are smuggling cows from Jaipur and are headed to Delhi. Behrod police caught some trucks and some trucks escaped, these trucks were forced stopped by public and the drivers were beaten by the public," the report quotes a senior police officer, Paras Jain as saying, claiming that 10 people have been arrested for murder.
The Rajasthan Bovine Animal Act, 1995 prohibits the slaughter and export of cows and 'the person who is transporting the bovine animals for slaughter is considered guilty of aiding and abetting'.
Amid the intensified cow protection movement by BJP and right wing Hindu leaders, several stringent steps have been taken to punish the 'perpetrators', even criminalize the transport and slaughter of cows in various states.
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The Gujarat Assembly passed an amendment bill prescribing life imprisonment for those found guilty of slaughtering cows.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh too was in the news for his rather controversial opinion that cow killers should be hanged.
