Image Source: Indian Express | Photographer Gajendra Yadav | Reported By Aditi Vatsa
Over a loudspeaker in a temple there was an announcement. They announced that there was beef in someone’s house. Beef. A food item. A staple food item for many thousands of Indians. A mob surrounds their house and ransacks it. Over a loudspeaker can be a rumour. Eating beef is not illegal. Ransacking someone’s house, however is.
The mob doesn’t stop at ransacking the house. They drag the father and the brother out on the road. They are beaten. Beaten with sticks and stones. Beaten in front of his daughter and wife. Beaten till one of them dies. Beaten till the other is rendered unconscious. Beaten till a family is broken. Beaten till a human life lost. Beaten over a rumour. If this was not humiliating enough, the police sends the meat sample to forensics to confirm whether it was beef or not. Beef or not, did a human being deserve to lose his life? Is it illegal to consume meat? Are we now going to kill people for their dietary habits?
Waking up to this news in the biggest democracy in the world is heart breaking. Congratulations India for getting intolerant and un-secular with each passing day.
