Muslim man killed in new suspected India ‘cow lynching’

Indian police yesterday said they are probing a suspected fresh case of a Muslim man being killed by so-called Hindu cow vigilantes.

Cows are revered by Hindus and according to Human Rights Watch some 44 people died in cow-related violence by Hindu vigilantes between May 2015 and December last year.

Police said that a group of Muslim men transporting horses became involved in an altercation in a remote mountainous area of Indian-administered Kashmir before dawn.

Nayeem Ahmed Shah, thought to be 50, was shot in the head and died on the spot, police said, while another man Yasin Hussain accompanying him was injured.

The attackers fled the scene after the firing, Hussain told reporters.

“We are investigating the angle of cow vigilantism,” inspector general of police for the region, M K Sinha told AFP, adding seven suspects were taken into custody for questioning.

Angry locals, who say the shooting was carried out by Hindu vigilantes, protested and threw stones at police and damaged several vehicles, demanding the attackers be handed over to them.