West Bengal: Mob lynches 2 Muslim youths transporting cows

Two Muslim youths, who were transporting cattle on a vehicle, were lynched by a mob in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district on Sunday early hours.

The West Bengal Police suspect the lynching was instigated by so-called cow-protection vigilantes.

A senior police official of the West Bengal Police said, “We are investigating if the lynching was instigated by cow-protection groups or spontaneous rage of villages.”

“We are also investigating if this lynching was because of spontaneous rage of the villagers or conducted by any organised group under the garb of public rage,” the district police official said.

According to the West Bengal Police, the Sunday’s killing is second incident of cow-related lynching in the state in the last two months.

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West Bengal Police said that the incident occurred at Dadon village in Jalpaiguri district, around 630 kilometers from state capital Kolkata. The incident site is close to India-Bangladesh border at Falkata.

The attack took place at a village in Jalpaiguri district, around 622 kilometers from Kolkata, shortly after 2:30am on Sunday.

Police officials who had rushed to the incident site said, the victims seemed to be in their early thirties. The two have been identified as Anwar Hussan, a resident West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district and Hafizul Sheikh, a resident of Assam’s Dhubri.

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Police team further told the media that they are investigating if the duo killed in the incident are legitimate cattle-traders or cattle-smugglers.

Driver of the vehicle who managed to flee the mob-rage told the police that they had lost their way while passing through the area.

“We were stopped by a mob. I somehow managed to dodge them,” added the driver.