In June, three Muslim youths were lynched by villagers at Durgapur in North Dinajpur, also on suspicion of cattle theft.
Representational Image of cow vigilantes in action. Photo credit: BBC
Two Muslim youth suspected of being cow thieves were lynched by cow goons in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district on Sunday.
The incident took place in Dadon village about 15 kms from Dhupguri town. The bodies have been sent for post-mortem and an investigation has been lunched, a senior police officer from Jalpaiguri told the Indian Express.
The police said the victims were travelling through the village late night in a pick-up van with seven cows. The driver lost his way, drove the van round and round, waking up the villagers in the process. While the driver managed to run away the two victims – Hafizul Shaikh of Dhubri in Assam and Anwar Hussain of Patlahawa in Coochbehar — were surrounded and lynched by the mob.
According to a Times of India report, over the past few weeks there have been allegations of cattle-lifting in the area and the villagers had set up a cow vigilante group.
In June this year, three Muslim youths were lynched by villagers at Durgapur under Chopra police station in North Dinajpur, also on suspicion of cattle theft.