Seven arrested in Bihar for killing calf

Seven Muslims were arrested in Bihar's West Champaran district for allegedly for killing a calf and consuming its meat, police said on Friday.

Chanpatia SHO Rajesh Jha said that the seven, all residents of Dumra village, were arrested on Thursday after police were informed that they had violated the ban over cow slaughter by killing a calf.

"Accused have confessed that they had killed a calf and consumed its meat," he said, adding investigation in this case is underway.

Jha said some local cow vigilantes informed police that Mohammad Shahabuddin of Dumra had killed a cow and was consuming its meat. "Police have found evidence of it when police entered his house and accused also confessed about his crime," he said.

However, Jha downplayed the reported demand of a mob, with bamboo sticks in their hands, to hand over arrested people to them for "justice".

Local Hindi dailies have reported that the mob staged a protest and pelted stones at the police vehicle after they refused to hand them over.

According to local sources in the district, some Bajrang Dal activists along with two BJP workers instigated local villagers and gathered a mob to attack Shahabuddin's house, beat up the residents but police arrived by that time and rescued them.

Early this month, in a first of its kind incident in Bihar, a mob in Bhojpur district led by cow vigilantes thrashed a truck driver and two others on suspicion of transporting beef.

--IANS

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