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