Waquar Hasan | Clarion India
NEW DELHI – A mob of cow vigilantes assaulted three Muslim cattle traders and attempted to extort money from them when they were legally transporting buffaloes to the animal market in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad city.
The incident happened in Odhav area on 19 February where the victims struggled having an FIR registered in the matter. The victims identified as Ishaq, Mohammed Farooq and Musharraf Ahmed, were attacked by a group of 20-25 people. Ishaq is seriously injured, with his jaw fractured and is currently going under treatment in a hospital.
Talking to Clarion India, advocate Nauman, who is pursuing the case of victims, said an FIR was filed on the complaint of the victims under section 307 only after a wide outrage on the social media.
Earlier, talking to YouTube channel Desh Live, he had said the cattle traders were made to sit at the local police station for several hours. They were let go on the condition that the victim would not take any action against the attackers.
He then talked to the local police questioning as to why the police was not lodging an FIR in the matter? Then the police registered FIR only after he questioned the police about pressurising the victims to compromise with the attackers in the case.
The advocate said a police official had told him that he worked for eight years in the police and he knows that no action will be taken in this case. And the policeman asked him to compromise in the case after taking some money.
Talking about the attack, Musharraf, who was injured, said that when they were transporting buffaloes, they were intercepted by the mob and demanded money worth 1.50 lakh.
“They took out sticks from their vehicles and started hitting us. My brother Ishaq was brutally beaten up. I was also hit with sticks. Then, I took Ishaq to the hospital for treatment,” he said while talking to local media.
He also said that the police have filed an FIR on the complaint of the cow vigilantes but is not filing the FIR on the victim’s complaint. The police told him to compromise with the cow vigilantes in the case.
Farooq, who is the owner of the cattle, said he got a call from his friend Ishaq telling him that the cow vigilantes are chasing their vehicle. Then, he went there where his name was asked by the cow vigilantes and demanded Rs. 1.50 lakh. Farooq told him that he has legal permit to transport the buffaloes but they did not listen to him and started hitting him.
“My hand got fractured in the attack. They hit me in my eyes with stick. They were 22-25 people. They were demanding 1.5 lakh as ransom even though I was transporting the buffaloes after following all legal procedures. I was also forced to say ‘Jai Shri Ram’,” said Farooq.
