A Muslim cattle trader was allegedly lynched while another was thrashed by an irate mob on the suspicion of cow slaughtering in the Bajhera Khurd village of Uttar Pradesh.
Meanwhile, though the Hapur Police denied the incident, a video of a mob surrounding two men lying unconscious after the assault went viral on social media.
In the video, the mob can also be heard justifying the punishment for cow slaughter, while in another instance, when one of the two gained conscious, they were denied water.
Ironically, the incident took place while Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was holding a meeting of party MPs, MLAs and office-bearers from Western Uttar Pradesh in Ghaziabad on Monday amid high-security.
Incidentally, the village is barely 10 kms away from the Bisada village in Dadri where 55-year-old Mohammad Ikhlaq was lynched by a mob in 2015 on allegations of eating and keeping beef (cow meat) in his home.
A relative of the victim said that Qasim (38), a cattle trader, and Shamiuddin (65) had gone to Madhpura village to buy fodder for cattle. "They were surrounded by a frenzied mob and attacked with sticks when some villagers circulated rumours that they were there to slaughter cows and sell its meat," alleged Yaseen, Shamiuddin's brother.
Yaseen alleged that the mob thrashed and dragged them for about a kilometre to a temple. The priest of the temple, Ekadashi Giri, confirmed the attack on the duo and said that they were begging for their life. "After beating them severely with sticks, the mob left the two bleeding and unconscious near the temple," said Giri.
On getting the information, the police rushed to the spot and admitted them to a hospital in a critical condition, but Qasim succumbed to his injuries. "The condition of my brother Shamiuddin is also very critical," said his brother Yaseen.
Hapur SP Sankalp Sharma, however, denied it to be a case of mob lynching and instead claimed that the attack was the fall-out of road rage incident.
The FIR said that Qasim and Shamiuddin were riding a motorcycle when then met with an accident with another bike driven by a youth from Bajhera Khurd village. Soon a mob gathered and the two were severely thrashed. "A few villagers said that they had heard rumours about cow slaughtering, but the police did not recover any weapon or meat from the possession of the victims," claimed the SP, adding, "A case has been registered against 25 unidentified men and we have arrested two persons."
