Mob kills Muslim farmer for ‘eating beef’

Indian police arrested eight people and were searching for two more after villagers allegedly beat a Muslim farmer to death and severely injured his son on hearing rumours that the family was eating beef, a taboo for many among India’s majority Hindu population.

The mob of about 60 Hindus became incensed when a temple announced that the family had been slaughtering cows and storing the beef in their house in Bisara, a village about 45km southeast of the capital New Delhi, District Magistrate Nagendra Pratap Singh said.

He said the mob dragged 52-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq and his son from their home and beat them with sticks and bricks.

Akhlaq was declared dead in hospital. His son was being treated for serious injuries.

Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist, took office last year, hardline Hindus have been demanding that India ban beef sales, a key industry for many within India’s poor, minority Muslim community.

In many Indian states, the slaughtering of cows and selling of beef are either restricted or banned.

For Hindus, cows are worshipped as sacred, and many of the animals are often seen wandering unchecked around big city neighborhoods and on highways.

Tensions had been building in the village, where nearly 40% of the 1,500 residents are Muslim, after some Hindus complained that their cows and buffaloes were going missing.

Meanwhile, police said they have sent samples of meat taken from Akhlaq’s home to a laboratory to determine whether the meat is from a goat or a cow.

The Indian Express quoted Akhlaq’s daughter, Sajida, as saying that the family had mutton not beef.