The smuggling side of crime

Alwar has been sobbing with the screams of cows being smuggled beyond borders of Rajasthan for the sole aim of selling beef. The spurt in the incidents of cow smuggling is pushing this town towards anarchy with Hindu community, which considers cow as the mother of humankind, being left infuriated and aggrieved.

The following incidents of cow smuggling being reported from this belt of Rajasthan also raise several questions as to how this piece of Rajasthan is slowly being turned in to a ‘mini Bangladesh’. The rampant sale of beef in and around Rajasthan borders also puts a big question mark on the working of police administration in this particular belt where such illegal activities remain unchecked.

The region recently hit the headlines for the death of one Rakbar Khan who was lynched after being caught red-handed smuggling cows while trespassing the muddy fields of village Lalawadi in Alwar Rajasthan on the intervening night of July 20-21.According to information, residents of this village came out after hearing the cows screaming found him passing through fields with two cows. Smelling fishy, they rounded him and thrashed him black and blue while his friend Aslam had a chance to escape.

Meanwhile, police were informed soon after, and in next few minutes, they were on the spot. They took Rakbar to the police station from where he was taken to the hospital. However, the doctors declared him brought dead. Eventually, a lot of furore was raised by residents of Alwar questioning police’ working, and hence a judicial inquiry was ordered in the case.

Amid all this turmoil, even the Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Singh Kataria had to admit that there were lapses on police’s part which took injured Rakbar to hospital after three hours of their visit to the site where he was found injured. He opined that Rakbar died in police custody.

However police, it seemed, arrested two village lads, Parminder and Dharmendra, on charges of lynching to save their skin. What raises the eyebrow in the entire incident is that while the innocent lads are reeling behind bars for their only crime being to check the activity of a cow smuggler, no case has been registered as of now against Rakbar Khan and his accomplice Aslam on charges of cow smuggling.

Also, despite knowing the fact that Rakbar was booked in 2014 on charges of cow smuggling, Haryana government sanctioned an aid of Rs 5 lakh for the family, while Rajasthan government also sanctioned an ex-gratia of Rs 1.25 lakh for victim’s family.

On the contrary, the family of Parminder and Dharmendra are yet awaiting the release of their sons as the former has his exams scheduled for RPF in August. In fact, the incidents of cow smugglers in this belt did not end here.

Soon after Rakbar case, Tapukada police in Alwar seized two calves and three cows from a cow smuggler while he was smuggling bovines to Haryana. He was caught red-handed and was identified as Hamid alias Langda who is resident of Milakhpur Churakh village in Rajasthan, said Rajesh Meena, sub-inspector, Tapukada police station.

Following this incident, three females were yet again arrested from Govindgarh, on July 30 with 40 kg of beef during a raid conducted at their residence by police. This town yet still falls under Alwar region.

These women were identified as Akbari, wife of Khaleel, Bhoori, wife of Shakeel and Sajeena, wife of Sameem. Many packets of beef packed in polythene bags and a cow carcass were also seized from

the house. On questioning, Akbari confessed that her son Shakeel and his friend Sattar had brought beef to her house after slaughtering a cow to sell it further, she said when police interrogated her.

Both Shakeel and Sattar fled; however, Shakeel was arrested on July 31. When grilled, he spilt the beans and said that he has been selling beef in and around Rajasthan and Haryana on demand. Police on August 1 raided a godown and were stunned to find 221 carcasses of cows, 82 carcasses of buffaloes and 47 of goats.

As further investigations are under process in this case, the biased attitude of the administration is infuriating the residents of Alwar who are tired of police lethargy which is unable to check cow smuggling in the region.

Meanwhile, on July 31, Alwar District Gausewa Samiti president Ramnivas Yadav called a press conference to announce that if Mev community continues holding panchayats to shield their members accused of cow smuggling as they have done recently, then Alwar Hindu Samaj will also hold Hindu Mahapanchayat in support of innocent being arrested by police.

It needs to be furnished here that Mev panchayat has called a mahapanchayat in Rakbar Khan’s village in Haryana calling for the arrest of BJP MLA Gyan Dev Ahuja who has been speaking against cow smuggling and smugglers. The community also demanded a compensation of Rs 50 lakh for the family members of the deceased.

“If Mev community members continue pressuring police, administration and are shielding their members while supporting cow smugglers, then Hindu community will also not be maintaining silence and shall hold mahapanchayat to protect innocent from being caught by police on false charges,” said Yadav. Meanwhile, police officials talking to this journalist confirmed that these cow smugglers find out the best way to take bovines across borders to Haryana via vehicle, fields or by merely walking on roads. They explore new ideas and means everything they caught.

A resident of Lalawadi village says, “I have seen Hindus and Muslims living like one family here in my increasing age. However, things started changing when ‘Jamat’ from Kashmir started coming here frequently and staying here for a long duration,” he said.

They are polishing the minds of the Muslim community to engage in such activity as this is the shortcut method of money earning, he added. He also said that in the last picture of Rakbar going viral, it is crystal clear that he is seen sitting comfortably in the police vehicle while being taken to police station. If his ribs were fractured, as said by doctors, how can he sit comfortably? It should be thoroughly investigated as to what treatment police gave him after being taken from the location where the mob attacked him, he asked.

He also looked worried for Dharmendra Yadav, who according to him, was the only Jat residing in the village of 1000 people. He has his Railway Police Force exam scheduled in August for which he was attending his coaching. How can he be held guilty when he was the one who helped police in getting him to sit in their vehicle and also brought his clothes to be given to injured Rakbar, he questioned with a raised eyebrow.