63 incidents of cow-related violence since 2010; 97% of them after 2014

The lynching of Mohammed Ikhlaq by a mob in Dadri because of a rumour that he had allegedly stored beef in his house was one of the biggest stories of the year. The incident, which took place in 2015, was a tipping point of sorts when it came to mobs attacking people who they felt possessed or consumed beef.

Interestingly, there have been reports of murders that go back to 2010. The numbers have certainly risen since the Narendra Modi-led NDA government assumed power in 2014, but this does not take away from the fact that attacks and murders have taken place for the past seven years.

According to a detailed report by IndiaSpend, Muslims were the target of 51% of violence centred on bovine issues over nearly eight years (2010 to 2017) and comprised 86% of 28 Indians killed in 63 incidents. The data journalism company gathered this information only from mainstream English media.

"Of the 28 Indians who died over the seven-year period, 24 were Muslim, or 86%. As many as 124 people were also injured in these attacks. More than half (52%) of these attacks were based on rumours," the report added.

The report added that 2017 has so far been the worst year when it comes to killings over slaughtering of cattle or possessing cattle meat. “20 cow-terror attacks were reported–more than 75% of the 2016 figure, which was the worst year for such violence since 2010,” it said.

How was the study done?

To compile the list of attacks centred on cow-related issues over the past eight years, IndiaSpend ran Google searches with keywords that included, ‘cow vigilantes’, ‘gau-rakshaks’, ‘beef’, ‘lynching’, ‘cow slaughter’, ‘cattle thieves’, beef smuggler’ and ‘cattle trader’. Where information was incomplete, we spoke to the journalists who filed the original reports.

Muslim victims were identified by name. In 8% of the 63 cases, the reports explicitly stated that those attacked were dalits, who are also targets because many among them clear cow carcasses, skin them and eat beef. In a few cases, religion was difficult to determine.

In 50.8% (32) of the cases, the targets were Muslim, in 7.9% (5) Dalit, 4.8% (3) Sikh or  indu (names appeared Sikh, but it wasn’t certain) and 1.6% (one) Christian; in 20.6% (13) cases, religion was not reported. Among 14.3% (9) cases, the targets were Hindus, but their caste was not clear.