Summary Cow vigilantism has been rising since the Modi government came to power in India
(Web Desk) - The lynching of a Muslim trader in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh by a mob of self-styled Hindu cow “protectors” have caused an intense wave of anger among Muslim members of the village with the women of the community vowing to take up arms in order to protect themselves and their families against cow vigilantes.
According to Hindustan Times the women say they are dissatisfied with the way police handles the mob attacks and believe that the government is in league with the cow protectors. India has been rocked by beef related mob violence since the Modi government came to power. The Thursday attack, in which a mob of 100 people thrashed trader Alimuddin and set his car on fire on the suspicion that he was transporting beef was only the latest in a long series of similar incidents. However, signs are appearing of a backlash against the cow vigilantes.
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Mariam Khatun, wife of the dead trader, seen in the centre. Photo courtesy: Hindustan Times
“Mob justice would be meted with mob-justice,” said Mariam Khatun, the wife of the dead trader. She added that members of the community were afraid of the rising levels of lynching incidents targeting only Muslim men and that such acts were not were not sudden accidents but deliberate acts of a few groups supported by the administration. She also claimed that if the government did not give them the support they needed the women were capable of picking up arms themselves.
There was also intense anger in the community against the cow protectors.
“Why do people of a particular community have so much interest in our eating habit, when we do not peep into their kitchen?” asked Abida Khatun, another resident of the village.
While many Muslim members of the village wanted some sort of retribution for the lynching of the trader, older members of the community advised people to remain calm and not to engage in communal violence. Bhola Khan, who acted as a mediator between the villagers and the administration, said that people in the community were peace loving and a mere incident could not make them take the law in their own hands.
While PM Modi has publically spoken against cow vigilantism his government has taken few practical steps in solving the situation. If such incidents of mob violence continue they will likely cause anger to build up in India’s large Muslim community.
