New Delhi: A muslim man became a victim to mob violence for allegedly selling beef in Assam's Biswanath Chariali on Sunday.
The man, identified as Shaukat Ali, was abused and heckled on the road and was forced to eat pork as punishment by the locals.
Reports suggest that the police has detained at least five people after a viral video showed the man on his knees in deep slush, begging to let him go.
India TV, however, cannot independently verify the authenticity of the video.
The mob also questioned his nationality and asked him if he had the licence to sell beef.
"Are you Bangladeshi? Is your name in the NRC (National Register of Citizens)?" one person from the mob can be heard asking him.
The NRC is being implemented in Assam, and its final draft, published last year, saw the names of 40.07 lakh people (of the total 3,29,91,384) applicants missing in the list.
Reacting to the incident, AIMIM leader Asaduddin took to Twitter and said,"I know many people who feel they're desensitised because of the number of lynchings in the last five years. I am not, each video infuriates me and saddens me."
"It's irrelevant that beef is legal in Assam, lynching an innocent old man is illegal in every part of India," he added.
The point to be noted here is beef is not banned in Assam and cattle slaughter comes under the purview of the Assam Cattle Preservation Act, 1950.
The law states that only cattle above 15 years of age can be slaughtered after obtaining a "fit-for-slaughter" certificate from a state veterinarian.
The Opposition has raised the issue of mob violence and lynching a couple of times in past few months in Parliament.
The Supreme Court of India also issued a directive for the Central government to enact a law to stop the menace of the mob-lynching crisis. A bench, headed by former CJI Dipak Misra termed the mob lynching a horrendous act of mobocracy and directed the Parliament to bring a stern law to stop the crimes.
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