Two Muslim women beaten up over beef
AFTER A LAB TEST, OFFICIALS ASCERTAINED THAT THE SAMPLE WAS BUFFALO MEAT
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As policemen watched, activists of a Hindu radical group, Hindu Dal, assaulted two Muslim women in Madhya Pradesh for allegedly carrying beef. The incident took place on Tuesday, a video of which went viral.
The two local women, identified as Salma Mevati and Shameem, were slapped, kicked and abused by cow vigilantes at Mandsaur railway station, around 350km from state capital Bhopal, after police detained them on a tip-off that they were carrying beef.
Reports said 30kg of meat were recovered from the women. The meat sample was sent to a lab where it turned out that it was buffalo meat. The women have still been charged, because they did not have a permit to sell meat.
The women were later produced before a court and sent to judicial custody. But the police have failed to take any action against the men who beat them up at the railway station.
In a mobile phone video taken by one of the many spectators who did nothing to stop the attack, policemen are seen making half-hearted attempts to control the crowd.
In the video, the women are cornered by a crowd that is heard screaming “Gau Mata Ki Jai [Hail holy cow]”.
Shockingly, the women were beaten up after they had been detained by the police. Officers said they tried to stop the crowd, but were outnumbered.
Police reportedly reached the railway station to arrest the two Muslim women, after they received information that the duo was travelling with 30kg of beef to sell. However, a mob that had gathered at the spot were able to beat the women for nearly half an hour before they were taken away by the officers.
“Those women are criminals and it was women who beat them up, so it is a reaction to an action,” Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Yashpal Sisodia told Gulf News.
Reacting to the incident, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bhupender Singh yesterday said action would be initiated against those who have attempted to take the law into their own hands.
“The veterinary report clearly stated that prima facie it was found to be buffalo meat. If report comes from the women, we will take action against those who have tried to take the law in their hands,” Singh said.
Furore in parliament
Mandsaur Superintendent of Police (SP) Manoj Sharma said one of the two women had been booked in similar cases on four occasions before and had been convicted twice.
“They have an organised gang and we have information that they regularly carry meat to Mandsaur city from neighbouring areas,” Sharma said.
Meanwhile, the Opposition parties tried to corner BJP over the issue in Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament) yesterday.
Congress leader Anand Sharma asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not spoken up about the attack on Dalits in the name of cow protection. “He has done chai-pecharcha [talk over tea] and
mann-ki-baat [straight from the heart] but why not on this issue,” Sharma asked in the House.
Responding to it, BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, “violence in any state is condemnable, we don’t justify anything”.
“We want to restore an environment of belief and development in country. We should rise above politics on such issues, and the welfare of the society should be above our personal motives.”
The attack comes just two weeks after a group of Dalits in Gujarat were tied up and beaten by cow vigilantes triggering protests in different parts of the country.