Riyaz was 45 and was a tailor. He was beaten along with his friend Shakeel, who is hospitalized. Once discharged, the latter will have to respond to charges of cow slaughter.

Satna (AsiaNews / Agencies) - A Muslim from Madhya Pradesh has died as a result of injuries sustained by beatings received by a group of radical Hindus. The man, a 45-year-old tailor named Riyaz, was beaten to death because he was suspected of having slaughtered a cow along with another Muslim, 38-year-old Shakeel, who was seriously injured and hospitalized. In India, the cow is a sacred animal for the Hindu religion and groups of fanatical nationalists justify violence against those who dare even to transport them to the market as "deserved".

Yesterday, the officers arrested four people for murder and assault. The incident occurred last May 18 in the village of Amgara, in the district of Satna. According to police reconstructions, the assailants fought with the Muslims after the news that they were involved in the slaughter of cattle had spread. Rajesh Kumar Hingankar, a police superintendent of Satna, reports to the Hindustan Times that the carcasses of two cows had been found in the village. This is why officers registered the case against the deceased and the wounded, according to the Madhya Pradesh Cow Slaughter Ban Act of 2004 and the Madhya Pradesh Agriculture Cattle Preservation Act of 1959. "Shakeel – whom the police officer knows - will be arrested when discharged from the hospital ".

The murder of Riyaz threatens to reignite the tensions between the Muslim and Hindu communities, after several episodes of violence by "cows protectors". The Supreme Court also had to intervene on the issue, to annul the ban on the slaughter of cattle that some States led by the Hindu nationalist party BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) had approved. Established in an official way to protect the sacredness of the animal, in reality the ban discriminates the Islamic minority in particular.