Suspected Hindu radicals in India’s central state
of Madhya Pradesh assaulted two Muslim women on suspicion that they
were carrying beef, triggering an uproar in parliament on Wednesday.
Allegations of cow slaughter have inflamed communal tensions in India
over the past months. Hindus, a majority in the country, regard cows
as holy and their slaughter is banned in several Indian states.
Mobile phone videos broadcast on news channels showed activists
slapping, kicking and abusing the women after they alighted from a
train at a railway station in Mandsaur district on Tuesday.
The women were arrested. State home minister Bhupender Singh promised
action against the activists, reportedly from Hindu Dal (group).
Last year, a 55-year-old Muslim man was beaten to death by a Hindu
mob in northern India over rumors that he and his family were
consuming beef. Recently, four men from a lower-caste community were
also beaten for skinning a dead cow.
Attacks over alleged cattle-killing and beef-eating have been a focus
of a campaign by Hindu activists. Muslims, the largest religious
minority in India, make up an estimated 14 per cent of the country’s
1.25 billion inhabitants.
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