Hindutva mob attacks Muslim cattle traders in India
Seven Muslim men beaten by Hindu extremists as police stand by, reflecting deepening impunity for anti-Muslim violence
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — Seven Muslim cattle traders were brutally assaulted by Hindu extremists last week in western India, exposing the persistence of vigilante violence and police complicity under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindutva regime.
The attack occurred in Jalna district of Maharashtra, where a mob stopped two vehicles carrying 21 bulls from a local market and accused the traders of transporting animals for slaughter — a common pretext used to justify anti-Muslim attacks.
According to Maktoob Media, the victims — Nisar Patel, Asif Shaikh, Riyaz Qureshi, Sajid Pasha, Asif Sadiq, Javed Qureshi, and Sayyed Parvez — were moving livestock legally purchased for agricultural use. Patel, 62, said the mob ignored official documents and beat them with sticks and logs, leaving all seven injured.
Police later arrived and took the men to safety, but instead of arresting the attackers, they detained the victims and filed charges against them under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Patel said the same mob later followed them to a cow shelter and attacked again while police looked on.
Local activist Reema Kale-Kharat intervened, forcing officers to register a complaint against the assailants after hours of resistance. “The victims were treated like criminals while the attackers walked free,” she said.
The Federation of Maharashtra Muslims (FMM) condemned the assault, calling it part of a state-enabled network of Hindutva vigilantism. FMM convenor Safir Ahmed pointed out that an official August 2025 directive by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar reaffirmed that only police have the authority to inspect livestock transport — yet vigilante groups continue to operate unchecked.
Human rights observers say such assaults form part of a wider campaign of anti-Muslim persecution, where mobs act as enforcers of Hindu majoritarian power with tacit state approval. Over the past decade, dozens of Muslims have been lynched, arrested, or dispossessed under fabricated allegations linked to livestock trade.
The seven victims remain hospitalized. Police have registered a case against “unidentified persons,” but no arrests have been made, reflecting what rights advocates describe as India’s deepening culture of impunity for anti-Muslim violence.
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