By Aiswarya Raj
Two days after her husband Umar Khan was found dead, allegedly murdered by cow vigilantes, near a rail track in Alwar district, Khurshidan went into premature labour and gave birth on November 12, 2017. Though the accused were released on bail within months after their arrest, Khurshidan, now 40, continued to mourn Umar’s death for years.
In Ghatmika village of Rajasthan’s Bharatpur, a stone’s throw away from Khurshidan’s house lives 24-year-old Parmina. Thirty-year-old Sajida lives at a slight distance from their house in the same village. Parmina’s husband Nasir Khan, 32, and Sajida’s husband Junaid Khan, 35, were killed and their bodies burnt in Nasir’s car, allegedly by cow vigilantes, in Bhiwani, Haryana, on February 16.
On July 3, Khurshidan, Parmina, Sajida and 34-year-old Asmeena (her husband Rakbar Khan was killed, allegedly by cow vigilantes, in Alwar in July 2018) filed a joint petition against the Haryana and Rajasthan governments, and their respective Directors General of Police in the Supreme Court. Their plea challenged the provisions of the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 2015, and the Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Act, 2015.
The other petitioners in the case are Irshad, the son of Pehlu Khan, who was killed, allegedly by cow vigilantes, in Alwar in 2017; Palwal-based Nadir Shah, who was attacked by a group on February 22; and Palwal-based Salim, who was waylaid while on his way to buy livestock and beaten up by three people on February 23…
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here