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Journalism of Courage
The assault on two Muslim men near Ambar village in MP’s Satna district while they were allegedly slaughtering bulls was driven by economic reasons and not cow vilgilantism, according to residents of the village. The assault, which took place late on Thursday, left one of the men, Siraj Khan, dead. The other, Shakeel Maqbool, is in hospital and his condition is stated to be critical. Four people have been arrested in connection with the incident.
“They deserved the treatment they got. Is there a provision through which we can get compensation for the bulls they slaughtered?”, asked a villager. According to the villagers, Siraj, who was in his 40s, and Shakeel, in his 30s, lived in Purani Basti in Maihar, more than 20 km away, and had no reason to be on Amgar’s outskirts around midnight. The villagers claimed that the duo were “caught in the act”. They were then cornered by a mob of more than 100 villagers wielding sticks. As they tried to flee, the duo reportedly fell into a limestone mine. They were then beaten up and left to die by the roadside.
READ | ‘Can’t believe he could slaughter an animal, he was scared of blood’
Villagers claimed their cattle had been going missing regularly, but they had no clue that they were being slaughtered till heads of two bulls were found on May 4. “Each bull costs Rs 10,000 and we can’t afford losing them just like that. So we had been keeping watch. Two villagers who were returning home through the fields after attending a death ritual late in the night heard chopping sounds and alerted others,” said Balbeer Singh, one of the few graduates in the tribal village.
The village has about 600 voters and most residents supplement their meagre income from farming by working as daily wagers. The villagers claimed Bajrang Dal was very active in nearby villages, but not in Amgar. They said they didn’t lodge any police complaint about the missing cattle — a fact police confirmed.
Following the assault, more than 50 villagers signed what they called a “panchnama” and gave it to the police. The “panchnama” , written under the sarpanch’s letterhead, described how they cornered the duo, recovered cattle and sacks of meat from them and called the police. It, however, did not mention the assault.
“When police arrived, they were alive. We don’t know when and where he (Siraj) died,” claimed Munna Singh, 35, Gulab, 32, beside him. Munna said police had initially picked up seven people, but later asked him and two others to get down from the vehicle. “If the entire village was involved, why arrest only four,” asked a villager.
Pawan Singh, 35, one of the four arrested, is the complainant in the case against Shakeel, who has been booked under the cow slaughter prohibition act. Villagers claimed that the four courted arrest and said they were trying to secure bail for them as they are breadwinners for their families. SDOP, Maihar, Arvind Tiwari said only four were arrested because only they could be identified. Investigation revealed their names and more arrests are unlikely, he said.
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