Police suspend three officers over image of 'cow mob' lynching
Officials say widely shared picture is 'misleading' but an inquiry has been opened
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Three police officers have been suspended in India after an image was widely shared on social media showing them at the scene of an apparent lynching by a vigilante cow protection mob.
The image showed a group of men dragging the victim along the ground while flanked by the three police officers. The man, Qasim, identified as a Muslim resident of Madhpura Mustafabad village in Uttar Pradesh, later died of his injuries.
Those sharing the image online said the police had been involved in the lynching themselves, but a spokesman for the police said they had separated the victim from the mob and ordered he be carried to their police car.
Nonetheless, the local police superintendent said the officers had shown “insensitivity towards the injured man”. A tweet from UP Police said: “We apologise for the insensitive manner in which the victim was handled.
“The picture seems to have been taken when the police had reached the spot to shift the injured to a police vehicle - there was no ambulance available.”
The chief spokesperson for the state police, Rahul Srivastava, said the police “did not support lynching” and described the images shared on social media as “misleading”.
“The picture shows that man is being dragged and the policemen are doing nothing about it, but that's not true - the mob just wanted to continue attacking the man and our men were trying desperately to keep them away,” he said.
Indian media reported that Qasim and another Muslim villager were severely beaten and dragged to a temple on suspicion of cow slaughter. Hindus in India see cows as sacred, and there are regularly reports from across the country of non-Hindus being attacked for keeping, trading or eating cattle.
According to the Hindustan Times, other images and videos shot by villagers showed members of the mob asking the two victims about cows.
Qasim was rushed to hospital by the police but died. A postmortem found his liver had been ruptured during the beating and he sustained at least 10 distinct injuries, police said. The other man, Shamiuddin, remains in critical condition in hospital.
Police denied the men were attacked over suspected cow slaughter, telling the BBC instead that the cause was a “minor tiff” over a road rage instead involving a motorcycle.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments