A dairy farmer in Rajasthan’s Alwar district is desperately trying to reclaim his 51 milch cows after they the state’s BJP government confiscated them leaving the family in utter despair.
According to the dairy farmer, Subba Khan, the Hindutva terrorists posing themselves as cow vigilantes, took his cows away to a cow shelter in presence of police on suspicion that they were being smuggled. Khan said he had merely taken his cattle out for grazingon 3 October.
Khan and his family are now spending hours every day trying to convince the authorities that the cows were part of his livelihood and he legitimately owned them. Cops, meanwhile, have expressed their inability to help Khan saying that the cow shelter was owned by a BJP politician Shrikrishna Gupta. The district administration launched a probe to ascertain the ownership of 51 cows. One cow has died in shelter since then.
Khan and his family sold hundreds of litres of milk every day to earn Rs 3000-Rs 4,000. The family is now forced to face a near financial ruins in the absence of their cows.
Khan’s wife Baseri said, “They said we were cow smugglers. When I tried to intervene, they pushed me. The police were present, but they were mere spectators. Later, with the help of the police, the cows were taken to Shri Krishna Gaushala in Bambora Ghati by the cow vigilantes.”
One police officer said that the cows were confiscated to avoid law and order situation since there were complaints of smuggling.
Kishangarhbas police station SHO, Chand Singh Rathore, said, “On October 3, we got information that some villagers were obstructing the road with their cattle. To prevent any law and order situation, we acted promptly and took the cattle to the local gaushala and cleared the national highway.”
“I am here at the gaushala to identify the cows claimed by Subba Khan as his. After the inquiry, we’ll be able to determine whether the cows were being taken for smuggling or they belong to Subba Khan. This area sees a lot of cow smuggling and thus we took the help of nearby villagers to carry the cattle safely to the gaushala,” Rathore was quoted by Hindustan Times.
Gupta, president of Shri Krishna Gaushala, who is also a BJP leader, said, “Policemen and some villagers brought several cows to our gaushala on October 3. Hardly 8 to 10 among those aremilch cattle, the rest of them are not in good health. In spite of staff taking good care, one cow has died. After the inquiry, if the administration orders us to give the cows back to the family, we’ll do so. But the family will have to give us compensation (Rs 200 per day per cow).”
Khan belongs to Meo community. Pehlu Khan, also a dairy farmer, was killed in Alwar by Hindutva terrorists in April this year. Pehlu too belonged to the Meo community. Rajasthan Police, which reports to the BJP government had recently given clean chit to six of Pehlu killers.