Madhya Pradesh: Muslim women beaten up by right-wing group on suspicion of carrying beef

In yet another instance of cow vigilante groups taking law into their own hands in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, two Muslim women were assaulted at Mandsaur railway station on Tuesday on suspicion that they were carrying beef. A video that surfaced on Wednesday showed Salma Ismail Mewati, 30, and Shameem Akhtar Hussain, 35, being beaten up by a group of women belonging to a right-wing group in presence of male activists and the police, who made no attempt to stop the assault. While the two women, both residents of Khanpura locality of Mandsaur town, were sent to jail on Tuesday, no action was taken against the attackers more than 24 hours after the incident. Home Minister Bhupendra Singh said meat seized from the women turned out to be that of a buffalo. Slaughter of buffalo and transportation of meat is not illegal in the state. MP amended its anti-cow slaughter act in 2010 increasing the maximum jail term to seven years. The amended legislation got presidential assent in 2012. When asked about action against the attackers in Mandsaur, the minister said the police will act if the two women file a complaint against them. The women had reportedly returned from Jaora when they were confronted by the group on platform number one of Mandsaur railway station. The group beat them up at the station and even outside before the police took them away. The duo have been booked under Sections 4 and 5 of the Madhya Pradesh Gauvansh Vadh Pratishedh Act and Section 8 of Madhya Pradesh Agriculture Cattle Preservation Act, 1959. Such vigilante action is not new in MP where cow protection groups like the Gauraksha Commando Force have targeted civilians in the past. In January this year, a Muslim couple was among passengers beaten up at Khirkiya Railway Station by members of Gauraksha Samiti in Harda district when they objected to their luggage being ransacked on suspicion that they were carrying beef. Laboratory tests proved that the meat seized from the general compartment of Kushinagar Express in which the couple was travelling was that of a buffalo. The Harda police were forced to act against seven right-wing activists involved in the assault on the couple. Right-wing groups took to the streets in protest and later one of them warned the superintendent of police of serious consequences if more arrests were made.