Hundreds thrash man, torch house over dead cow

People feel  more threatened than the cows these days. A Muslim man in Jharkhand's Giridh district was brutally beaten and a part of his house was set on fire after a dead cow was found outside his house. The incident happened on Tuesday afternoon. Police said that a villager had mischievously slit the throat of the cow, which was already dead just create an impression that Usman had killed it, reported The Telegraph.

Various media reports suggest that close to 100 people attacked the house of Usman Ansari at Beria Hatiatand village on Tuesday afternoon after a few people spotted the carcass of a cow outside his house. Incidentally, the mob had also swelled to nearly 1,000 people within a span of 30 minutes. They beat up Ansari and set fire to a part of his house by the time the police reached the spot.

The mob kept on beating Usman till police arrived and rescued him and his family. Jharkhand Police Spokesperson and ADG (Operations) RK Mullik said, "The police struggled for more than two hours to rescue Ansari and his family members." He further added, "When the police tried to take him to hospital, there was resistance from the crowd. There was heavy stone-pelting. We had to open fire in the air."

A police official said the cow belonged to Ansari and had died of an illness. The miscreant took advantage of this and slit the dead cow's throat before Usman could dispose off the carcass. 

Meanwhile, police had to shoot several rounds of fire in the air to disperse the crowd. And in this process, one person, identified as Krishna Pandit, was shot in the leg. Both Ansari and Pandit are in stable condition and have been shifted to a hospital in Dhanbad. Close to 200 police personnel were deployed to the spot. Just a few days earlier, a 16-year old boy-Junaid was stabbed to death after miscreants suspected him of buying beef. 

• india
• jharkhand