Bhopal: Two Muslim women, accused of trafficking beef, have been subjected to brutal attack allegedly by cow vigilantes in the presence of police at a railway station in Madhya Pradesh.
The incident took place at Mandsaur railway station on Tuesday. A video footage on the incident that went viral showed the two women being punched, kicked, pushed and abused by a mob allegedly comprising members of cow protection group with policemen present on the spot seen shockingly being soft on the attackers.
The brutalities on the women were captured by a cell phone video camera.
The two women were finally rescued from the marauding mob by the policemen and later arrested on charges of carrying meat in an illegal manner.
“Two policemen, including a woman cop, were on Tuesday sent to the railway station following reports that two women were being assaulted by people on suspicion of carrying beef. However, on examination, it was found that the meat was of buffalo.
The two women were arrested on charges of carrying meat in an illegal manner and later produced before the local court which remanded them to judicial custody under relevant sections of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960”, Mandsaur district superintendent of police (SP) Manoj Sharma told media persons on Wednesday. The Opposition BSP and the Congress created uproar in Rajya Sabha, protesting the incident.
Beef export prohibited
The Center on Wednesday clarified that beef export is prohibited and no subsidy is being provided for the same. “No,” Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
“As per the existing foreign trade policy, export of beef (meat of cows, oxen and calf) is prohibited and not permitted to export,” she said.
Earlier in the Rajya Sabha, no sooner had listed papers been laid on the table of the House, Mayawati (BSP) said after beating of dalit youths in Gujarat, ‘Gau Raksha’ (cow protection) groups beat up two women in Madhya Pradesh over suspicion of possessing beef.
She 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.
