Man thrashed with belts by cow vigilantes in Ujjain
A video, showing alleged cow vigilantes thrashing a man with belts in Madhya Pradesh?s Ujjain city, has surfaced online. The police have taken four people into the custody and search is on for others. Though in the video, the mob can be heard beating the man for attacking a cow, the police have said it was a dispute over money.
Violence in the name of safeguarding cows in India has been making news frequently since the Bharatiya Janata Party backed by Hindutva organisations like RSS came to power at the Centre. Two years ago, in Uttar Pradesh's Dadri, a 52-year-old man -- Mohammad Akhlaq -- was mercilessly beaten to death by a Hindu mob accusing him of consuming and storing cow meat. Earlier this year, 55-year-old Pehlu Khan, a dairy farmer, transporting cattle he purchased in Jaipur to Haryana, was stopped by so-called 'gau rakshaks' affiliated with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal and was thrashed to death. Disturbing video of a similar incident is now doing the rounds on social media. In the video that is said to be from Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain, a man could be seen singled out and beaten up by at least 10 men.The 2-minute-long video was first tweeted by ANI saying, "Man thrashed by cow vigilantes in Ujjain" and is now going viral. WATCH THE VIDEO HERE: DISCLAIMER: THE CONTENT COULD BE DISTURBING TO SOME. VIEWER'S DISCRETION ADVISED