A 50-year-old man in northern
India has been killed in a mob lynching allegedly over rumours that his family
had been storing and consuming beef at home.
Mohammad Akhlaq was kicked and beaten with stones by a
group of men in Dadri in Uttar Pradesh state on Monday night.
Mr Akhlaq's 22-year-old son was also seriously injured in
the attack, and has been admitted to a hospital.
Six people have been arrested in connection with the
incident. Police are probing who spread the rumour.
Slaughter of cows is a sensitive issue in India as the
animal is considered sacred by Hindus, who comprise 80% of the country's 1.2bn
people.
Uttar Pradesh is among a number of Indian states who have
tightened laws banning cow slaughter and the sale and consumption of beef.
The beef ban has also provoked outrage with many
questioning how the government decides what is on their plate.
Mr Akhlaq's family said the family had stored mutton, and
not beef in their fridge. The police have taken the meat and sent it for
testing, reports said.
"Some locals spread rumours that Akhlaq had cow meat
at his home and engaged in cow slaughter. Following the rumours, they attacked
his home," senior local official NP Singh told The Indian Express
newspaper.
The incident happened in a village, barely 50km (31 miles)
away from the Indian capital, Delhi, where Mr Akhlaq, a farm worker, lived with
his family.
His 18-year-old daughter Sajida told the newspaper that a
"group of more than 100 people from the village" reached the house on
Monday night.
"They accused us of keeping cow meat, broke down our
doors and started beating my father and brother. My father was dragged outside
the house and beaten with bricks," she said.
"We had come to know later that an announcement had
been made from the temple about us eating beef...There was some mutton in the
fridge...The police have taken it for examination."
Reports said local villagers, protesting against the
arrests, had clashed with the police, and damaged a number of vehicles.
Eleven states - including Uttar Pradesh - and two union
territories (federally-administered regions) in India ban slaughter of cows,
calves, bulls and bullocks.
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