Cow vigilantes beat up man in Nagpur, four held

Nagpur: The gau rakshak brigade strikes once again. This time in Bharsingi village under the Jalalkheda police station, near Nagpur, where four persons allegedly beat up Salim Ismael Shah (36), for carrying beef on Wednesday. While the man was indeed carrying meat, it is yet to be confirmed whether it was beef, mutton or buffalo meat. A video of the incident has gone viral and was also shared by a private TV network. The four were arrested based on the video evidence.

Talking to The Asian Age, Inspector Vijay Tiwari of Jalalkheda police station on Thursday said that all four persons have been arrested for assaulting Salim with rods and sticks. The men were said to be members of a fringe group called the Prahar Sanghatan, allegedly linked to local politicians. They were to be produced in court later on Thursday.

The victim was carrying the meat in his two-wheeler, when the quartet intercepted and allegedly beat him.  The four have been identified as Moreshwar Tandullkar, Jagdish Choudhary, Ashwini Uikey and Rameshwar Taiwade. This is the first such incident reported from the Vidarbha region.

The incident has also created ripples in political circles in the state.

The Shiv Sena, a ruling coalition partner in Maharashtra, as well as the Opposition Congress and the NCP condemned an incident. The BJP, on the other hand, sought to play it down, calling it a stray incident.

“Lynchings of people over suspicion of carrying beef started in UP and it has now spilled over to our progressive state. To make the matters worse, this has happened in the RSS heartland. If this continues, there will be a chaos in the country,” Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande said.

BJP spokesperson Niranjan Shetty said that despite Prime Minister’s warning, one cannot “get into the minds” of those resorting to violence.

“One cannot get into the minds of these people. We condemn this incident, but one cannot term it a failure of law and order because this is a stray incident,” he said

“No party would support such actions. The accused do not have the right to beat anybody. They could have handed him (the victim) over to the police and the law would have taken its own course,” Shetty added.

State Congress chief Ashok Chavan said the continuance of such incidents showed that “nobody takes the prime minister seriously”.

“More than 27 people have been lynched in the country. This issue is becoming serious with every passing day. It shows nobody takes the prime minister seriously,” He said.

The Congress will raise the issue in the Monsoon Sessions of Parliament and the state Assembly and make this government answerable, the former chief minister said.

NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik asked if Fadnavis can ensure that such incidents won’t happen again.

“After Gujarat and Haryana, now it is Maharashtra’s turn. The CM hails from Nagpur, so the gravity of the incident is greater. Will the CM ensure that this does not happen again,” he said.

The chief minister should enlighten the BJP and the RSS workers about the difference between cow meat and buffalo meat as the latter was not banned, the NCP leader said.

Salim Ismail Sheikh (31), resident of Katol town, was allegedly thrashed by a group of people on the suspicion that he was carrying beef at Bharsingi village in Nagpur district last night.

The police have arrested four persons in this connection.