Summary Suspected Bajrang Dal members lynch man over alleged cow smuggling.
HIMACHAL PRADESH (Web Desk/ AFP) – A 20-year-old Muslim boy named Nauman was beaten to death with sticks and four others were injured in Indian state Himachal Pradesh over accusations of smuggling cattle and other animals.
Aggressive and extremist Hindus attacked Nauman and his friends and alleged them of smuggling cows and cattle animals. Nauman is just another victim of Hindu extremism just like a number of people who faced similar aggression.
On the other hand, Manohar Lal Khattar, Haryana’s Chief Minister has conditioned that Muslims have to give up eating beef if they have to reside in India as the cow "is an article of faith" for Indians.
The senior leader of India s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has said that Muslims can continue to live in India, but they will have to stop eating beef.
Khattar, who completes one year in office later this month as the head of a BJP government, told The Indian Express in an interview that the cow is an article of faith for the Hindus, and that Muslims would not be violating their religious beliefs by giving up beef.
“Eating beef hurts the sentiments of another community, even constitutionally you cannot do this,” he said in response to a question that preventing people from eating food of their choice was an infringement of their constitutional right.
Last month, Mohammad Akhlaq, a 50-year-old Muslim man, was killed by a Hindu mob in Dadri village of Uttar Pradesh over rumours that his family had been storing and consuming beef at home. His 22-year-old son was seriously injured in the attack.
Later, the forensic report confirmed that meat recovered from family s fridge was mutton and not beef.
Responding to this Khattar said the killing was a "result of misunderstanding" and that "both sides" had committed wrongs.
Ban on cow slaughter
Killing cows is banned in many states of India, a majority-Hindu country that also has sizeable Muslim, Christian and Buddhist minorities.
In March, the state of Maharashtra toughened its ban to make even possessing beef illegal, a move seen by religious minorities as a sign of the growing power of hardline Hindus since nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power.
For Hindus, cows are worshipped as sacred, and many of the animals are often seen wandering unchecked around big-city neighborhoods and on highways during rush hour.
Despite the slaughter of cows being widely banned, India ranks as the world s top beef exporter, according to a report by the US department of agriculture.
It is expected to export 2.4 million tonnes of beef in 2015, against Brazil s 2 million tonnes.
