Uttar Pradesh: A man was beaten to death by a mob in Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur, around 70 km from Delhi, allegedly over rumours of cow slaughter. Another person was seriously injured.
The incident took place on Monday in Pilakhuwa village. The victim has been identified as 45-year-old Qasim. The injured Samayuddin, 65, is being treated at a local hospital.
The two men were brutally thrashed after an argument with some bike-borne men from the neighbouring village, the police said. But according to report in the Indian Express, the families of the victims and the two alleged attackers, who have been arrested, claim the assault was related to cattle smuggling.
Their claims appear to be corroborated by a video of the aftermath of the violence, which has gone viral. The minute-long video shows Qasim lying in a field, with his clothes torn. While the victim screams in pain, a voice is heard warning the attackers to back off and give him some water.
“You have hit him, assaulted him, enough is enough… please understand there are consequences,” the man is heard saying. Another voice cuts him off and says, “Had we not reached within two minutes, the cow would have been slaughtered.” A third man is heard saying, “He is a butcher… someone ask him why he was trying to slaughter a calf?”
Qasim is seen lying on the ground; the crowd refuses to give him water.
A police report or FIR filed by Samayuddin’s family does not mention cow slaughter, police said. “Two people were passing through the Bajheda village on a motorcylce. They fought with some locals over right of way. After that they were assaulted and one person died. The FIR filed by the family says the motorcycle of the two men collided with another one and that led to an argument,” said Pawan Kumar, a senior police officer.
The UP Police have registered a murder case and arrested two people in connection with the assault. “There are rumours of cow slaughter… we are investigating that angle too”, said Sankalp Sharma, Hapur’s senior-most police officer.
