Pehlu Khan was killed by a mob of alleged cow vigilantes two years ago. Now, the Rajasthan government has filed a chargesheet against the dead dairy farmer for cow smuggling.

The chargesheet, which was prepared on December 30 last year, also names the owner of the pick-up van that was used to transport cattle on April 1, 2017.

Unsurprisingly, the chargesheet has come as a shock for Khan’s family. The Indian Express quoted his son Irshad as saying that the family’s hopes from the new government were dashed following the news of the chargesheet.

Khan has been charged under Sections 5, 8 and 9 of the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995 and Rules, 1995. His sons, Arif and Irshad, have also been named in the chargesheet. It was presented at a court in Rajasthan’s Behror late last month.

The case against Khan will be closed but will continue for his two sons.

The then BJP government in Rajasthan had last year filed a chargesheet against two persons close to Khan who were also beaten up by the mob.

Khan, a resident of a village in Mewat, had reportedly bought cattle to increase milk production in the wake of Ramzan. He had produced his receipts to the angry mob which killed him using sticks and rods.

The chargesheet prompted controversy with the Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi commenting on the “silence” of some liberals. It’s noteworthy that Chaturvedi left the Congress and joined Uddhav Thackeray’s party right before the Lok Sabha elections:

Some prodded liberals to speak up. They also pointed out that it was easy to stoke anger against Opposition parties, but not so in connection with the ruling party:

Others accused the Ashok Gehlot government in the state of erring by invoking former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s ideals:

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters latched on to the news of the chargesheet, claiming that they have been vindicated. Some of the supporters also claimed Khan was a butcher:

There were others who saw this as a failure of both the major parties, the BJP as well as the Indian National Congress (Congress).

Twitterati also spoke about Ashok Gehlot’s apparent U-turn on the matter. The screen grab of his tweet from April 2017 has been circulated widely on social media:

Source: Twitter

Journalist Barkha Dutt thought the chargesheet was shameful and the Congress leaders in the state should intervene: