11 arrested over murderous attack on J&K nomad family moving with 16 cows

Srinagar: The police in Jammu and Kashmir have arrested eleven persons after five members of a nomad family including a 9-year-old girl were brutally attacked by so-called ‘gau rakshaks’ or cow vigilantes in the State’s Reasi district last week.

The hooligans attacked the family with iron rods and sticks in Reasi’s Talwara area during the intervening night of April 20 and 21.

Though the police had tried to downplay the incident terming it a result of “some misunderstanding”, the reports from the area had said that the accused are members of a self-styled group of cow vigilantes who were joined by a mob to attack the family.

The police was earlier reluctant to act against the accused fearing that such an action on its part could create a law and order problem in the area. However, in view of the mounting pressure from the opposition parties and rights groups and the resentment being shown by Gujjar and Bakerwal tribes of the State, eleven persons have been arrested.

The victims told the police that they were intercepted by a large group of ‘gau rakshaks’ and attacked with iron rods and sticks. The assailants then took their entire flock including cattle, sheep and goats.

The family was attacked apparently because the livestock it was moving with included 16 cows. “But that is routine with the nomadic herder families called Bakerwalls which move from place to place with the change in season,” an official had said.

However, the police recovered the livestock and subsequently restored it to the goatherds family.