Tears, Despair And Hope For Justice As These Women Take On Two States Over ‘Unconstitutional’ Cow Protection Acts

By Aiswarya Raj July 15, 2023 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. The plea prayed for issuing of an appropriate order holding Sections 12 and 12-A of the Rajasthan Bovine Animal Act as “unconstitutional being arbitrary, vague, and unreasonable” ------ 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 Forty-year-old Khurshidan’s husband Umar Khan, a resident of Ghatmika village of Rajasthan’s Bharatpur, was found dead, allegedly murdered by cow vigilantes, near a rail track in Alwar district in November 2017. She said her son, who was just 15 years old then, took up the reins of the family. (Express photo by Aiswarya Raj) ------ The Petition The petition stated, “All the Petitioners herein are victims of violence by the vigilante groups of the States of Rajasthan and Haryana claiming to be ‘protectors of cows’. These vigilantes also include those who claim to be ‘person authorised on this behalf by the Government’ for such action under: Section 12 and Section 12-A of the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995 (the Rajasthan Act) ii. Section 16 and Section 17 of the Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Act. 2015 (the Haryana Act).” The plea prayed for issuing of an appropriate order holding Sections 12 and 12-A of the Rajasthan Bovine Animal Act as “unconstitutional being arbitrary, vague, and unreasonable”, as well as Sections 16 and 17 of the Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan Act as “unconstitutional being arbitrary, vague, and unreasonable”. It also called for setting up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe instances of violence against Muslims by vigilante groups in Rajasthan and Haryana’s Mewat region. In Ghatmika village, Parmina sobs at the mere mention of Nasir. The family says she has been like this since the news of his death reached the village in February. Nasir’s brother Hamid Khan, who had accompanied the women to Delhi, says Parmina stopped working in the fields after her husband’s death. Asmeena’s husband Rakbar Khan was killed, allegedly by cow vigilantes, in Alwar in July 2018. A resident of Haryana’s Kolgaon village, she met with an accident just six months after his death. Besides a fractured spine, a catheter has been inserted into her bladder, making it difficult for her to move around. Left without any steady income, Asmeena, 34, and her seven children rear three goats and two cows in their two-room house. (Express photos by Aiswarya Raj) ------ Hamid’s wife Sabila added, “She keeps crying and has stopped talking. Her hearing too seems to have been affected.” Picking threads off her Kaneez, Parmina stays quiet as Sabila adds, “She has also stopped taking care of her two children.” Having suffered the same fate as Parmina, Khurshidan checks in on the younger woman occasionally. As she enters the room, Parmina, looking much older than 24, takes one look at the older woman and bursts into tears. Khurshidan asks her to stop wailing. Though her cries don’t stop, they subside, seemingly assuaged by Khurshidan’s consolations. Syeda Hameed writes | The deafening silence of those who need to speak about Junaid and Nasir and the torn pages of a Bible in Pragati Maidan As she consoled Parmina, Khurshidan said, “When the Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind (a socio-religious organisation of Muslims) said they will fight for justice in the Supreme Court, they said we would not have to pay the lawyer’s fee or other expenses. Though our case has already seen a long trial, I was ready for this new case as well.” Back in her house, Khurshidan’s eldest son Maksud Khan, 22, who took up the reins of the family at the age of 15 years after his father’s death, looked at his mother and remarked, “She aged quickly after his death. She has been suffering from ailments, one after another, ever since he died. Two months ago, she was diagnosed with typhoid. She is yet to recover fully.” Coincidentally, her son is married to the daughter of Rakbar Khan, a resident of Kolgaon in Haryana’s Nuh, who was killed, allegedly by cow vigilantes, in Alwar in July 2018. “Both families went through the same tragedy. It felt right to get our children married,” said Khurshidan. junaid sajida Thirty-year-old Sajida’s husband Junaid Khan, 35, and another resident of Ghatmika village of Rajasthan’s Bharatpur were killed and their bodies burnt in a car, allegedly by cow vigilantes, in Haryana’s Bhiwani on February 16. With Junaid’s death, there is no earning member left in the family of 16, comprising Junaid’s elder brother (who has learning difficulties), his wife, their seven children and Sajida’s six children. Sajida said they have been surviving on the charity of strangers. (Express photos by Aiswarya Raj) Though Sajida and Parmina were yet to complete their Iddat, a mandatory period of seclusion for widows lasting nearly 4.5 months, Sajida said she still “went to Delhi to file the plea, but wore a burqa and did not speak the whole time”. With no breadwinner in a family of 16, comprising Sajida’s six children, Junaid’s elder brother (who has learning difficulties), his wife and their seven children, she said they have been surviving on the charity of strangers. The family’s main source of income was a store run by Junaid, but it was sold after his death. Sajida’s 13-year-old daughter has started learning Urdu in the hope of getting a job at a madrasa. In the two-room house shared by 16 people, Sajida spends her days offering Namaz. “They did not just kill them; they burnt them alive. We could not even do their death prayers,” she said. “Sajida suffers from various diseases and takes medicines for sadness,” Junaid’s cousin Ismail said. Unable to look after her children since her husband’s death, Sajida said her mother and Junaid’s sisters stay over from time to time to keep the house running. Since Sajida did not know the details of her husband’s case, Ismail said, “In the first month, the Rajasthan police were proactive and arrested three persons. But there has been no progress since.” To a query on the absconding accused in the Junaid-Nasir murder case, an officer privy to the investigation had said in June, “We have other cases to deal with as well.” M R Shamshad, the advocate for the petitioners, said, “The SC could have exercised the power since two states are involved. However, it asked us to go to the respective High Courts.” He added that the Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind had approached him after it brought these women together to file the plea. Niaz Faruqui, the national secretary of the Jamiat, said they had set up units in the Mewat region to help the families of alleged victims of cow vigilantism. “In mid-April, we decided to help the families file a petition together,” he said. While Sajida and Parmina received a sum of Rs 1 lakh in cash and fixed deposits of Rs 4 lakh each from the Rajasthan government, Khurshidan says the compensation promised to her in 2017 by the then state government is yet to materialise. No Steady Source Of Income Lying on a charpoy in the verandah of her two-room house in Haryana’s Kolgaon village, some 20 km away from Ghatmika village, is Asmeena. She has been housebound, with a catheter inserted into her bladder, after she fractured her spine in an accident just six months after Rakbar’s murder. Left without a steady source of income since his death, Asmeena and her seven children rear three goats and two cows in their courtyard. As Asmeena gives instructions to her daughter, she appears hopeful. “I wanted to go to Delhi with the others, but could not because getting me in and out of a car is a hassle. I know all the women very well. Sajida is a relative, Khurshidan’s son is my son-in-law and I have met Parmina too,” she said, adding that although she had not met Pehlu’s wife Zaibuna, she was aware of her involvement in the case. “I don’t know the details of the case, but I know the men who were killed,” she said, reeling off their names. Though the accused in the Pehlu lynching case were acquitted by a Rajasthan court in 2019, four persons were awarded a seven-year jail term for Rakbar’s murder in May by a Rajasthan court. The police have arrested three persons in connection with the Junaid-Nasir case and named 27 suspects in the chargesheet. In Nuh’s Jaisinghpur, Zaibuna said some lawyers had approached her after Junaid and Nasir were murdered to tell her about the petition. She said she wanted to pursue the case, especially after the February murders. “When the Jamiat lawyer spoke about expediting the case hearings, given the number of cases and the people involved, we decided to become a part of it,” she said Stating that they were pinning all their hopes on the judiciary, irrespective of the long trial in store for them, the women said, “Aaj Nasir-Junaid, kal koi aur Junaid (Today it’s Nasir-Junaid. Tomorrow, it will be some other Junaid). The impunity with which these crimes take place needs to stop now.” ----- Source: Tears, Despair And Hope For Justice As These Women Take On Two States Over ‘Unconstitutional’ Cow Protection Acts URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-politics/justice-women-cow-protection-acts-vigilantes/d/130228 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism