Pilot demands judicial inquiry into Alwar lynching case

On Saturday night, Rakbar alias Akbar Khan was lynched in the district's Ramgarh area on the suspicion of cow smuggling. He was taking the cows to his village in Haryana.

The Congress leader alleged that such incidents had become common in the BJP-ruled state and said it was not the first case of lynching in Rajasthan.

"A judicial inquiry into the case is needed because the investigating officer will be biased. It is needed to ascertain the truth.

"So, nothing short of a judicial inquiry should be set up so that people have some fear of the law and legal system," Pilot said, adding that lynching and killing of people have become common in BJP-ruled states.

"This word (lynching) was unheard of a few years ago. Of late, anti-social elements have been given a free hand to take the law into their own hands, attack, hurt and kill people in broad day light," Pilot said.

He asked where such anti-social elements were four years ago.

"The BJP government in Rajasthan has failed on the developmental front so now they are calling back divisive politics and allowing violence and hatred in the society. This is unacceptable in a civilized society," he said.

On Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's statement that hatred had replaced humanity in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "brutal" 'New India', Pilot said, "It was absolutely true." 

"Under the rule of the BJP, Modi and (Chief Minister) Vasundhara Raje, the kind of government we have today is unwilling to live up to the visions of the Constitution and the law. There is complete lawlessness," he said. 

He also criticised the statements of BJP leaders on the Alwar incident.

"How can a BJP MLA or a minister without an inquiry come up with a conclusion," he said.

Pilot targeted Union Minister of State for Water Resources Arjun Ram Meghwal for linking incidents of lynching to increasing popularity of the prime minister. 

In April last year, 50-year old dairy farmer Pehlu Khan was beaten to death allegedly by cow vigilantes.