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Indian court jails 11 men for life over ‘beef’ murder
 [DAWN] An Indian court has sentenced 11 men to life in prison for killing a Moslem meat trader they suspected of transporting beef, in the first convictions over so-called "cow vigilantism".The men, including a worker from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party, were found guilty of killing Alimuddin Ansari in the eastern state of Jharkhand in June 2017. It was one of a series of attacks related to cows, which are considered sacred by Hindus. The men were charged with murder and rioting, among other offences, under India’s penal code and a court in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh district delivered its verdict on Wednesday. "The fast-track court handed them the life sentence yesterday," Rajesh Kumar, a police brass hat in Ramgarh told this news agency by phone on Thursday. "It is the first case in which a court has convicted and punished (perpetrators) for cow vigilantism." The police officer said a dozen men were locked away Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! over the murder but the court deferred its decision on the twelfth accused who is said to be a minor. India has witnessed a wave of rising tensions over the killing and smuggling of cows in the Hindu-majority country, where their slaughter is a punishable offence in many states, including Jharkhand. Posted by: Fred 2018-03-24 |
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