Two Men in India Killed by Mob for Stealing “Sacred” Cows
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Conatus News/Uncommon Ground Media Inc.
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2017/05/07
Indian villagers beat a pair of Muslims to death. The two Muslim men were claimed to have been stealing cows and were asserted suspects, according to the police. Cattle are considered sacred by Hindus, who are the religious-majority in India.
In the Nagaon district, the police of Assam state registered the cases of Abu Hanifa and Riyazuddin as murderers. Two people were detained and questioned over the murders.
Nagaon’s chief police officer, Debaraj Upadhyay, said, “They were chased and beaten with sticks by villagers who said the two boys were trying to steal cows from their grazing field…By the time we took them to the hospital at night they had succumbed to their injuries.”
There was footage taken by a local witness, which was aired by the broadcasters in India. In the recordings, the two Muslim men were being beaten with their hands tied and the villagers surrounding them, beating them.
There have been killings and smugglings of cows, recently, and it has become a recent tension with regards to the religious and holy significance of cattle to the Hindu majority in India. The slaughter of cattle is a punishable offense in many states in India.
Various vigilante groups have been talking about “cow protection” in the early months up to the present of 2017. Another Muslim man was beaten to death in Rajasthan. Why? The mob discovered cows in his truck.
The vigilante groups, or mobs, have been inspecting transportation for cattle. The man beaten to death in Rajasthan was a dairy farmer and was in the middle of transporting milk cows. There were accusations hurled at the police. That they didn’t act in enough haste for the dairy farmer.
Some critics argue that the Narendra Modi victory has emboldened the vigilantes. Modi is the leader of the Bharatiya Janada party, known for being a Hindu nationalist party. Modi won the position of prime minister in 2014.
In 2016, Modi criticised the “cow protection vigilantes,” especially urging a “crackdown” on those that would use religion to cover their crimes. Across India, 10 Muslim men, at least, have been killed by these types of incidents with Hindu mobs descending to protect cattle and kill Muslims.
Not for being Muslims necessarily, but for suspecting the consumption of beef or the smuggling of cattle. To protect against smuggling, the government will be issuing millions of identification numbers for cows in a national database – linking the cows and the national database – in an effort to protect them from future smuggles in India.
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