Beef is banned, is murder on the menu? Twitter slams mob lynching over cow slaughter rumour

A mob surrounded 50-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq’s home in Uttar Pradesh’s Dadri area, accusing him of eating cow meat, broke down the doors, dragged him and his son out of their home and beat him to death with bricks and critically injured his son, his daughter Sajida told the Indian Express.  [caption id=“attachment_2451046” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Relatives mourn the death of farmer Mohammad Akhlaq at his home in Bisara village about 45 kilometers (25 miles) from New Delhi on Wednesday. PTI[/caption] His family reportedly never carried out sacrifices on Bakri-Eid to avoid any confrontation with other villagers, but on Monday night a mob surrounded the house of Akhlaq in Uttar Pradesh’s Dadri area and beat him to death over a rumour that his family was consuming cow meat. The mob dragged her brother into the courtyard where they continued to beat him and some people also assaulted her grandmother and molested her, she said. As per the rumour, the remains of a calf that had allegedly gone missing on 16 September were found near Akhlaq’s home. Akhlaq was allegedly seen throwing a bag containing meat and villagers claimed that it was from the missing calf. The horrific incident has sparked an outrage on social media as the controversy over beef reached an ugly milestone. Here is how Twitter reacted to the shocking incident

Point isn't that one was killed on "mere rumour" he ate beef. So what if he actually ate beef? Stone him to death? Then we laugh at Saudis

— Shekhar Gupta (@ShekharGupta) September 30, 2015

One person killed on beef rumours. Am numbed after hearing that. What is happening to the society?

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) September 30, 2015

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What is happening to my country. People are getting beaten to death by a mob for allegedly eating beef? Stop this world, I wanna get off.

— MissMalini (@MissMalini) September 30, 2015

This news was saddening: In Dadri, a daughter asks: ‘If it is not beef, will they bring back my dead father?’ https://t.co/n02x5BGeQc

— Yashwant Deshmukh 🇮🇳 (@YRDeshmukh) September 30, 2015

So is this is our nationalism& our cultural values that we are so proud of? Kill an Air Force personnel's father for beef-eating? .

— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) September 30, 2015

Kill those who say Hinduism is violent.

Kill those who eat beef.

Kill those who question death penalty for terrorist.

Kill.... Hinduism.

— Vidyut (@Vidyut) September 30, 2015

If people were being killed for eating beef, half of Kerala would have been 'puf' by now

— Dhanya Rajendran (@dhanyarajendran) September 30, 2015

I have eaten beef
Instead of attacking helpless people come 2 me. I have danda waiting for u &is getting impatienthttp://t.co/GLChr8KOrN

— Markandey Katju (@mkatju) September 30, 2015

WTF do you mean by sending meat for forensics. If it's beef, would you justify the lynching? If it isn't, would it bring the dead man back?

— Roflindian (@Roflindian) September 30, 2015

No wonder we are concentrating so much on digital India... Because on ground India is a sick place http://t.co/DZbtbdsO7Y

— Ashwin Mushran (@ashwinmushran) September 30, 2015

#Dadri incident is shocking. A 'temple' incited incited violence. 'Mob' lynched a man for 'eating' #beef.
CM, PM silent.
No 1 responsible?

— Leader of Opposition (@LoPIndia2015) September 30, 2015