11/10/2015
11/10/2015
NEW DELHI, Oct 10, (AFP): Indian police have arrested 21 men after a mob thrashed two Muslims suspected of slaughtering a cow and set fire to some dozen shops, officials and reports said Saturday. The incident was reported from northern Uttar Pradesh state, where a mob recently murdered a 50-year-old Muslim man for supposedly eating beef — a taboo in the Hindu-majority nation. “A rumour spread (on Friday) that a cow has been slaughtered, after which some people beat up the men and resorted to arson,” Chandrapal Singh, a senior administrative officer of Mainpuri district, told AFP.
Singh said a post-mortem of the cow showed it had been dead for a while owing to some ailment and the men were only removing its skin when they were attacked by the mob. The incident adds to a raging row over what is seen as rising intolerance towards Muslims and other religious minorities since Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi stormed to power last year.
On Thursday, Modi appealed for religious unity, saying the nation would only prosper “when Hindus and Muslims unite and fight” against poverty, instead of against each other.
Dispersed
Delhi’s anti-graft party head sacks minister over ‘bribe’
Kejriwal did not specify whether Khan would continue to remain in the anti-corruption Aam Aadmi (Common Man) party, which trounced Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in February elections. The party seized power on the platform of providing a corruption-free government in the capital and Kejriwal has challenged Modi’s party to take action against leaders accused of graft. But Kejriwal has come under pressure from opponents over a series of scandals involving his party members. In June law minister Jitender Tomar resigned after he was arrested for acquiring a fake law degree, while former minister and party member Somnath Bharti is accused of trying to kill his wife.