J&K man ‘returning home with buffalo’ lynched, locals blame cow vigilantes

Protesters said Dar was the only earning member of his family, which has his ailing father and three sisters.

Alleging that “cow vigilantes” were behind Dar’s murder, several local residents later gathered outside the office of Rajouri Deputy Commissioner in protest, demanding arrest of the accused and invoking Public Safety Act on them. They said that Dar and two others were on way home after purchasing a buffalo from Laam side near Nowshera, and when they reached an isolated place at Muradpur, near Rajouri town, the alleged cow vigilantes attacked them with stones and sticks.

Injured, the three were taken to Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu, where Aijaz succumbed to injuries, it was informed. The condition of the other two is reported to be stable.

Deputy Inspector General of Police, Rajouri-Poonch range, Vivek Gupta, along with the Deputy Commissioner and the SSP pacified the protestors with assurance that the accused persons named will be arrested. Four of the accused have been identified and special teams have been formed to nab them at the earliest, a senior police officer said.

The murder led to widespread condemnation from people in the area. Calling for severe punishment for the accused, social activist and spokesperson of Gujjar Bakarwal Youth Welfare Conference, Guftar Choudhary, tweeted, “…Only bread earner of a poor family killed by goons last night while he was going back home with a buffalo. How many families will become victim of lynching.”