JAIPUR: The two sons of Alwar lynching victim Pehlu Khan were allegedly attacked by unidentified assailants on Saturday afternoon when they way on their way for a court hearing at Behror town in Rajasthan.
Khan was killed by cow vigilantes in Alwar district last year.
Brothers Irshad and Arif, along with two other witnesses Ajmat and Rafiq, were travelling in a car when the assailants fired at them. Their lawyer was also accompanying them.
In their complaint to the Alwar SP, Irshad and Arif said a SUV without registration number plate tried to stop them on the Delhi-Jaipur National Highway before shooting at them. The SUV then sped towards Behror, they said.
The family asked for security and demanded the case be now heard in Alwar itself. The brothers also claimed that they were being stopped from giving their statement regarding the lynching case in the court.
Meanwhile, Superintendent of Police, Alwar, Rajendra Singh said the family members and witnesses of the Pehlu Khan case have met him. “They will be given ample security from day one of the case, and we have assured them of this. The firing incident is being investigated,” he said.
Kavita Shrivastav, president of human rights organization People’s Union for Civil Liberties, expressed concern on the development. “This incident is very serious and is an attempt to terrorise the witnesses and the family. The trial of the case should be transferred from Behror. There has been a problem in the past as well. Even Harsha Mandar was threatened when he was travelling from Behror with his ‘Caravan of Mohabbat’,” she said.
Pehlu Khan was killed when he was transporting cows on April 1 last year. The police had lodged cases against Azmat and Rafiq for cow smuggling along with the driver of the vehicle, Arjun Yadav, and his father who owned the vehicle All of them were travelling in the car with Pehlu when he was attacked.