Protests erupt across India amid growing anger over 'beef lynchings' by vigilante cow protection mobs

An Indian man holds a banner during a protest in Delhi against a spate of attacks across the country targeting the country's Muslim minority
AP
Chris Baynes29 June 2017

Protests have erupted across India against the killing of Muslims by vigilante 'cow protection' groups.

Thousands of demonstrators gathered in 15 cities across the country, as well as in London, amid growing anger over the Hindu nationalist government's silence over "beef lynchings".

At least a dozen men and boys have been attacked since 2014 by mobs accusing them of eating or trading beef.

In the capital, Delhi, about 2,000 people carrying placards reading "not in my name" sang songs and lit candles on Wednesday.

In Mumbai, hundreds including some Bollywood actors gathered under umbrellas in pouring rain to demonstrate.

It comes after about 20 men attacked four Muslims on a train in the outskirts of Delhi on Friday, stabbing to death a teenager and seriously injuring two others.

The Muslim victims said an argument over seats quickly turned into a brutal attack, with the mob accusing them of being "beef-eaters".

Many members of the Hindu majority consider cows sacred and the slaughter of the animals and consumption of beef is illegal or restricted across much of India.

Much of the recent violence has been focused on cows. Several fringe Hindu groups, apparently emboldened by the stunning political rise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, have attacked Muslim cattle traders and dairy farmers.

Protesters in Delhi decried the silence of India's Hindu right-wing government
AP

Muslims constitute about 14 per cent of India's 1.3 billion people, while Hindus comprise 80 per cent.

Rights groups say government officials, including the prime minister, have been slow to strongly condemn the attacks since coming to power in 2014 and that police action against perpetrators has been inadequate.

Five of the killings, almost all of them in broad daylight and in busy public areas, have taken place in the last three months.

On April 1, Pehlu Khan, a Muslim cattle trader, was lynched by a mob in the western state of Rajasthan as he transported cattle he had bought at an animal fair back to his home state of Haryana. Khan and his family were small dairy farmers.

In May, two Muslim men were beaten to death over allegations of cattle theft in India's north-east.

Over the last two years, vigilante groups, calling themselves cow protectors, have become active in small towns and cities across India.

Lower-caste Hindus who carry out undesirable tasks such as skinning dead cattle have also faced mob violence.

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