Indian farmer beaten to death ‘for eating beef', 8 villagers arrested

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Relatives mourn the killing of 52-year-old Muslim farmer Mohammad Akhlaq at his home in Bisara. Photo: AP

Published: 10:45pm, 30 Sep 2015

Indian police arrested eight people and were searching for two more on Wednesday after villagers allegedly beat a Muslim farmer to death and severely injured his son upon hearing rumours that the family was eating beef – a taboo for many among India’s majority Hindu population.

The mob of about 60 Hindus became incensed when a temple announced that the family had been slaughtering cows and storing the beef in their house in Bisara, a village about 45km southeast of the Indian capital of New Delhi, said District Magistrate Nagendra Pratap Singh.

He said the mob dragged 52-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq and his son from their home on Monday night and beat them with sticks and bricks. Akhlaq was declared dead at a nearby hospital, while his son was being treated for serious injuries.

A relative displays the blood soaked clothes of the farmer killed for eating beef. Photo: AP

Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist, took office last year, hard-line Hindus have been demanding that India ban beef sales – a key industry for many within India’s poor, minority Muslim community. In many Indian states, the slaughtering of cows and selling of beef are either restricted or banned.

For Hindus, cows are worshipped as sacred, and many of the animals are often seen wandering unchecked around big-city neighbourhoods and on highways during rush hour.