Stay away from cow for safety of your coming generations, Azam Khan urges Muslims

Amid political bickering and uproar over lynching of 28-year-old man at Alwar in Rajasthan, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan on Tuesday requested Muslims to stay away from dairy business and cow trading for the safety of their upcoming generations.    

"My request to Muslims who are in dairy business and cow trading is to stop it for the safety of their upcoming generations. At a time when some politicians are saying that one must face dire consequences of just touching a cow (Gai ko chhune pe bhi anjaam bhugtna hoga), Muslims should stay away from such trade," he said.

Remarks from the SP leader – a prominent Muslim face of the party – comes days after a 28-year-old Haryana man identified as Akbar Khan, alias Rakbar, was beaten to death by a mob on suspicion of cow smuggling at Alwar in Rajasthan in the intervening night of July 20-21.

The autopsy report said Akbar Khan died of "shock as a result of ante-mortem (before death) injuries sustained over the



body."

The post-mortem further stated that the 28-year-old victim suffered 12 injuries in total, including eight bruises, two abrasions, a laceration, a fracture in the wrist and another in left femur.

The Alwar police has also come under attack for taking the victim to hospital after three hours even though it was just 20 minutes away from the incident site. Policemen stopped for snacks and transferred the cows to shelter before taking the victim to hospital, where he was declared brought dead.

Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria, who visited the lynching site, vowed strict action against the culprits. He suggested that the Alwar lynching incident looked like a case of custodial death.

The Rajasthan Home Minister also blamed the police for wasting time in taking the victim to a hospital as they had given precedence to having the cows transferred first. He said that the life of the victim - Akbar Khan - could have been saved, had the police acted in a responsive way.