J&K 'gau rakshaks' attack nine-year-old girl, four others

Four members of a self-styled 'gau rakshak' (cow vigilante) group were arrested in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district after they attacked and injured a nomadic family of five including a nine-year old girl and stole all their livestock, police said here on Saturday. A hunt was on to arrest the other members of the group.

"Police parties have been moved out to arrest all the members of the group that attacked a family of nomadic goatherds on Thursday and decamped with their livestock," a senior police officer said here.

Besides arresting four members of the group, police had restored the family's cattle, sheep and goats. "An FIR has been lodged. We have arrested some persons involved in the attack on the nomad family moving with their livestock -- cattle, sheep and goats on April 20 night," a senior police officer said.

The group had attacked the family with iron rods during Thursday night in Talwara area of Reasi. According to a report from Jaipur, a Congress delegation met Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh and demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the lynching of Pehlu Khan in Alwar district, allegedly by cow vigilantes. The delegation, led by Rajasthan PCC chief Sachin Pilot, met the governor and handed over a memorandum.

"Pehlu Khan (55) was beaten to death on April 1 in Alwar by a mob of gau rakshaks and there should be a CBI probe into his death," the Congress leaders demanded. While expressing concern over the deteriorating law and order situation in the state, Pilot said that criminals are roaming scot-free under the BJP rule and their confidence is high just because the government is negligent.