Muslim men brutally attacked in India over meat transport

Three men critically injured in targeted attack by cow vigilante group; police investigate claims of extortion and communal violence

NEW DELHI,  India (MNTV) — Four Muslim men were violently attacked by a Hindutva mob in northern India while transporting legally sourced buffalo meat, in a chilling incident that reflects the rising tide of religious violence targeting Muslims since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government came to power in 2014. Three of the men remain in critical condition.

The assault took place on May 24 in Aligarh, a city in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where Hindu nationalist groups aligned with India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have grown increasingly assertive. 

The victims—identified as Arbaz, Aqeel, Kadim, and Munna Khan—were returning to their hometown of Atrauli with a consignment of buffalo meat when their vehicle was intercepted by the mob.

According to a complaint filed by Salim Khan, father of one of the victims, the men were forcibly dragged from their truck, stripped, and savagely beaten with iron rods, bricks, and wooden sticks. 

The attackers torched the vehicle and threw the meat onto the street. “I cannot describe the injuries. You can watch the videos. My son is fighting for his life in the hospital,” Salim told The Wire, an independent Indian news outlet.

Footage shared on social media shows the beating continuing even after police arrived at the scene. Authorities later confirmed that the meat was buffalo—a legal commodity in the state and across much of India’s meat export industry. Still, the assault was justified by the attackers as an act of “cow protection”—a claim frequently invoked by Hindutva mobs in recent years to legitimize vigilante violence.

Police have filed a First Information Report (FIR) against 13 individuals under charges including attempted murder, rioting with deadly weapons, robbery, and extortion. Among those named are a local leader of the right-wing Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and a BJP functionary. 

Despite video evidence and serious injuries sustained by the victims, a separate FIR was also lodged against the four Muslim men under anti–cow slaughter laws, a tactic often used to criminalize victims of vigilante attacks.

However, independent fact-checkers and journalists have challenged those claims. Mohammad Zubair, co-founder of fact-checking site Alt News, posted official documentation from the meat supplier, including government certificates showing it was a licensed buffalo meat exporter. A factory gate pass matched the vehicle’s details and listed “buffalo bone-in meat” as the shipment.

The case is part of a broader pattern that has emerged since 2014, when Modi’s Hindu nationalist government came to power. Under the ideological banner of Hindutva, a vision of India as a Hindu-first nation, self-styled vigilante groups have increasingly targeted Muslims—especially those involved in cattle trade, interfaith relationships, or religious practices.

Hundreds of  people—most of them Muslim—have been lynched or assaulted by so-called “cow protection” mobs since 2015, according to human rights organizations. The violence often goes unpunished, and in some cases, perpetrators have been celebrated by political figures aligned with Hindu nationalist groups.

Salim Khan, whose son Aqeel remains hospitalized, said the same group had confronted them weeks earlier demanding bribes. “We don’t know Bajrang Dal or VHP, we only know our work,” he said. “We brought meat from a licensed factory, with government papers. But after this government came to power, our livelihood has been shattered.”

India is the world’s largest buffalo meat exporter, with Uttar Pradesh contributing nearly one-third of national exports. But Muslim traders and transporters in the industry say they now face constant threats, surveillance, and physical attacks—often fueled by communal rhetoric and impunity for vigilante groups.