By A Mirsab, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: In yet another violence caused due to suspicion of possessing beef, two Muslim women were thrashed and abused by Hindu Dal activists in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur district. A crowd beat them up over the rumours that they were carrying beef.
The incident comes close on the heels of Dalits beaten up in Gujarat by cow protection group that has created uproar in the parliament. Similar incidence has now taken place against Muslim women in the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh.
The women were slapped and kicked by a group of men and women at the railway station even as railway cops tried to stop them.
Soon a video of the incident taken by one of the spectators went viral showing the policemen making only a half-hearted attempt to stop the attackers. The women were thrashed for nearly half an hour before the police drove them away.
Later, local police claimed to have recovered around 30 kg of meat from the women. However, a preliminary veterinary report indicated it was buffalo meat and not meat of bovines.
This was confirmed by state Home Minister Bhupinder Singh to news agency ANI.
Regarding action against the mob that assaulted the women, Singh told ANI, “If the women register a complaint, then action will be taken against the attackers.” Reports have indicated that no action has been taken in the case so far.
On September 29, 2015 Mohammad Akhlaq was dragged from his house in Uttar Pradesh and was beaten to death over rumours that his family had eaten beef. Incidences of violence against Muslims and Dalits under the pretext of beef have increased ever since the BJP came to power in May 2014.
Uproar in Rajya Sabha
Opposition parties including BSP and Congress today created uproar in the Rajya Sabha and registered strong protest against the beating up of two Muslim women in Madhya Pradesh in the pretext of cow protection.
BSP supremo Mayawati upped the ante against BJP as soon as the working of Rajya Sabha initiated and said after beating of Dalit youths in Gujarat, ‘Gau Raksha’ groups beat up two women in Madhya Pradesh over suspicion of possessing beef.
The BJP, on the one hand, talks of protecting the girl child and giving dignity and honour to women but on the other unleashes goons on them, Mayawati alleged.
Mayawati asked Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi to respond to targeting of women of his community in the name of cow protection.
Soon BSP members trooped into the Well of the House, shouting anti-government slogans and were joined by Congress members.
Anand Sharma (Congress) asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not responded to attacks on Dalits in name of ‘Gau Raksha’. “He has done ‘Chai-pe-Charcha’ (talk over tea) and ‘Mann-ki-Baat’ (straight talk from heart) but why not on this issue,” he asked.
Ghulam Nabi Azad said the Congress was not principally against cow protection but was against targeting of Dalits and Muslims in the name of ‘gau raksha’. “Let it be very clear. We are not against gau raksha. But in the garb of it, targeting Dalits and Muslims is something we are against,” he said.