NEW DELHI: The recent horrific lynching of a young man, Junaid Khan , in a train near Ballabgarh on the outskirts of Delhi is another instance of a growing trend of mob violence against members of the Muslim community in India.

A review of media reports shows 32 cases of attacks by mobs or vigilante groups on Muslims since May 2014.

In these attacks, 23 people were killed, including women and children. This is a conservative estimate because many attacks may not have been covered in national media.

In most cases, the issue of cows has been the proximate cause – allegations of cow slaughter, smuggling, eating or even possessing beef. In some cases, rumours and false suspicions of ‘child lifting’ were fueling the mob frenzy, like in Jharkhand and West Bengal.

And in some, the pretext of cows was used for committing heinous crimes, as in the gang rape of two young women and murder of their two relatives in Mewat, Haryana. The spread of these cow terrorism cases – 12 states in all – is chilling as is the fact that the number is escalating.

Between June 2014 and December 2015, 11 such attacks took place, but after that, the pace has increased with 2016 recording 12 cases and 2017, 9 cases in six months.

Most such attacks have occurred in North India. Clearly, the spurt has taken place after the NDA government took over. This may be because of the advocacy of cow protection by the BJP and its associated organisations, changes in laws related to cow slaughter in several states ruled by the BJP and a sense of impunity felt by cow vigilantes.

In many cases that caused extensive protests, like the lynching of Akhlaq in Dadri in 2015 or the stripping and beating of dalit youths in Una, Gujarat in 2016, the central and state government’s response was perceived to be delayed and tepid.

According to home ministry annual reports, there have been 1,454 communal incidents over 2015 and 2016, in which 183 people have been killed and 4,585 injured. This is on the basis of reports by state governments.

The precise categorization of a case as ‘communal’ or not is largely up to the local police and often incidents such as lynching or similar attacks motivated by communal poison may not be recorded as a ‘communal’ incident.

In some cases, the frenzy of the mob was characterized by unprecedented barbarism. In March 2016, a 12-year old boy Inayatullah Khan was hanged along with Mohd. Majloom by a mob of villagers on the mere suspicion of cattle trading. In the Mewat rape case, a 14-year old girl was raped along with her 20-year old cousin by four antisocial elements who barged into their house at night.

She told the media later that the rapists told her that they were going to punish her for eating beef. In most cases, the victims pleaded for mercy and denied allegations of cow slaughter or beef eating but in vain.

The state governments in most cases have arrested some of the culprits but usually after an uproar. In 13 cases, the victims were also charged under some penal provision or other, according to an IndiaSpend review.

The target of cow vigilantes has extended to Dalits and tribals too, and in some cases to police personnel and government officials.

According to a recent IndiaSpend analysis, 26 attacks on non-Muslims too have been carried out mostly by vigilantes and mobs allegedly led by right wing organisations. Several cases have also been reported where Dalits involved in flaying of dead cattle or in transportation were attacked and beaten. One such incident that shocked the country took place a year ago in Gujarat where four dalit youth were stripped and publicly flogged even as a video was shot of the incident.

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