Indian Muslim women beaten for carrying beef

Two Muslim women have been beaten up at a railway station in central India on suspicion of carrying beef

Maya corners BJP

The Opposition took on the Modi government in  over the beating up of two Muslim women in Madhya Pradesh for allegedly carrying beef with a purpose to sell it. The issue was first raised in the House by BSP chief Mayawati who attacked the government for its continuing “inaction’ when it came to violence against women and minorities.

Congress members also joined cause with Mayawati and questioned the government’s role in the episode.

Mayawati pointedly asked Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, “I want to ask Mr Naqvi, women of your community have been attacked. You must answer to this House. Muslim women were assaulted in the name of cow protection—it is shameful and unacceptable.”

“The BJP raises the slogan ‘Mahilaon ke samman mein, BJP maidan mein’, yet women were thrashed on beef rumours in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh,” she said.

Ghulam Nabi Azad of the Congress supported Mayawati and said, “We agree that cows should be protected, but we are against using cow protections as an excuse to target Dalits and Muslims.” Opposition MPs rushed into the Well of the House and raised slogans against the government calling it “anti-Dalit” and “anti-women”.

In response to the attack by the BSP and the Congress, Naqvi defended the government and said, “Violence in any state is condemnable, we don’t justify it, but the Madhya Pradesh Government took action on the issue that Mayawatiji spoke about.” Only two weeks ago, four Dalits were flogged for skinning a dead cow.

Two Muslim women have been beaten up at a railway station in central India on suspicion of carrying beef, an offence in many parts of the country, media from India reported.  The meat the women were carrying has since turned out to be buffalo, but police in Madhya Pradesh state said they were attacked  at a busy station, apparently after a group of vigilantes raised suspicions. Video footage broadcast on local television channels showed a group of women slapping, kicking and punching the two as a large crowd gathered. The two women were subsequently arrested on suspicion of carrying beef. Tests found it was actually buffalo, and they now face the lesser charge of carrying commercial quantities of meat without a licence. Cows are revered by Hindus and slaughtering them is illegal in most Indian states.
Several states also bar the sale and possession of beef, and there has been a recent upsurge in attacks by vigilantes from the Hindu right on people suspected of killing cows. None of the people who attacked the two women had been arrested for the assault. It comes days after a group of low-caste Hindu men were beaten by vigilantes in the western state of Gujarat on suspicion of killing a cow – a charge they denied.