Family members and relatives of 38-year-old Idris Pasha, who died after an alleged attack by cow vigilantes at Sathanur in Ramanagara district early on Saturday, are worried over the future of his four young children.
Idris’s younger brother, Younus Pasha, told The Hindu that the children, including the youngest one who is barely six months old, face an uncertain future.
Bring guilty to book
“We know we cannot do anything about it except to look forward to justice for him by bringing the guilty to book. But we are worried about the future of his children,” he said. While the eldest son, who is around six years, is going to school, the remaining are too young to be enrolled in school.
He claimed that his brother’s body bore several bruises and suspected burn marks that indicated he had been tortured. “We are waiting for the post-mortem report,” he added.
Idris was in the vehicle along with trader Irfan and driver Zaheer, transporting around 16 head of cattle from Maddur to Tamil Nadu when the vehicle was intercepted and allegedly attacked by a gang of cow vigilantes, led by Puneeth Kerehalli.
Spare driver
According to Mr. Irfan, Idris was a spare driver, who had been hired to relieve Zaheer on the journey to a Tamil Nadu town. “When the car comprising around six people waylaid our vehicle in the early hours of Saturday, we abandoned it by the roadside and ran into the adjoining fields in the darkness. The three of us were separated,” Mr. Irfan told this correspondent over phone.
The gang members were armed with lathis and hockey sticks, claimed Mr. Irfan and added that Idris and Zaheer were caught by them while he managed to escape.
Mr. Younus heard about the tragedy when he received a call from the trader around 10 a.m. on Saturday soon after which he rushed to Sathanur to find his brother’s body.
Idris came from a family of transporters. “His father used to operate a couple of transport vehicles, including trucks, under the name of Upkar Travels in Mandya,” said Abdul Majeed, brother-in-law of Idris and Mr. Younus.
But, after the death of their father more than a decade ago, the business was wound up and the sons took to driving assignments for a living. While the eldest son Anees Pasha recently shifted to Hassan, where he is engaged in poultry business, Idris and Mr. Younus took up driving assignments in Mandya, according to Mr. Majeed.
Mr. Younus said his brother usually took up driving assignments for transporting rice, paddy, and other items. Transporting cattle rarely came across his way, he said while adding that he had never narrated any instance of encountering cow vigilantes earlier.
Mr. Irfan too said that Idris was basically a car driver, but had been engaged for the cattle transportation assignment on Friday.
Compensation sought
Meanwhile, SDPI leader Abdul Majeed, who visited the residence of Idris on Sunday, alleged that BJP’s brand of “politics of hate” against the Muslims had encouraged self-styled vigilante groups to take to torturing human beings in the name of cow protection.
Apart from demanding the arrest of the accused Puneeth Kerehalli and his associates, Mr. Majeed demanded compensation to the family of Idris on the lines of compensation given by the government to Hindutva activists Harsha and Pravin Nettaru.
