New Delhi, (IANS): A CPI-M delegation along with the sons of Mohammed Akhlaq and Pehlu Khan, both victims of lynch mobs, and other affected families met Home Minister Rajnath Singh here on Tuesday.
A memorandum was submitted before the Home Minister, asking for justice and prevention of such cases, the CPI-M said.
The delegation raised the issues of Junaid’s lynching on June 22, gang-rape of two girls of a poor Muslim farmer in Dingarheri, Haryana, in August last year, the killings of Pehlu Khan in April this year and Mohammed Akhalq in September 2015, and the beating up of truck driver Rizwan carrying buffaloes by a mob in Delhi on April 24 this year.
The Home Minister assured the delegation of action on the issues raised but pointed out that law and order was largely a state subject.
The delegation requested the Home Minister to direct officials to collect information about the cases of cow related violence from the states as there is a “pattern in this violence”.
“There is a pattern in the violence which indicates that these are not spontaneous cases of mob violence, but there are organised groups of so-called ‘gau rakshaks’ behind each of these cases,” the delegation said in its memorandum.
“In almost all these cases, the accused, if and when arrested, are easily given bail; charges are not framed even after months if not years. On the contrary, in most cases victims or their families are faced with false cases; compensation is not given in many of the cases,” the delegation told Singh.
“Our request is to monitor and follow up on each of these aspects so as to bring justice to the victims and also to send a strong message to ensure prevention of such crimes,” it said.