In Assam’s Biswanath Chariali, mob nearly lynches Muslim man accused of selling beef, forced to eat pork 

This screenshot of a mobile video shows Shaukat Ali surrounded by a mob.

New Delhi: Even as the Lok Sabha election is almost on, a mob in Assam’s Biswanath Charaili nearly lynched a Muslim man suspected of selling cow meat. The mob didn’t just stop there. The victim was also reportedly forced to eat pork, which is forbidden in Islam. The incident was captured by some onlookers on the mobiles, who later posted it on social media, which then went viral. The crime reportedly happened on April 7.

According to the media reports, Shaukat Ali, 68, severely thrashed by the mob when he was returning home on the suspicion that he was selling beef. He is a local and has been running an eatery, which also serves meat, in the area for the last 40 years. Locals have also reported that while assaulting him, the mob asked him whether he was a Bangladeshi and if his name was in the Assam National Register of Citizens.

Police officials immediately rushed to the spot to pacify the situation and admitted Ali to the Biswanath Civil Hospital for treatment.

This is not the first incident of mob violence in Assam. Two youths were lynched in the Karbi Anglong district in June 2018 on the suspicion of being child lifters. However, this is the first incidence in nearly three decades where a man was attacked for cow-related accusations. On May 1, 1990, a mob killed two Muslim men in the state’s Nagaon district on suspicion of stealing cows.

In north India, cow vigilantes have been accused of killing dozens of people over suspicion of carrying or consuming beef or smuggling cows, in the last few years.

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