Mandsaur attack: Four cow activists held, let off

Four activists of right-wing Hindu groups were arrested on Thursday on charges of assaulting two Muslim women in Madhya Pradesh for allegedly transporting beef even as police struggled to identify some women who were among the attackers.

Four activists of right-wing Hindu groups were arrested on Thursday on charges of assaulting two Muslim women in Madhya Pradesh for allegedly transporting beef even as police struggled to identify some women who were among the attackers.

A local court, however, granted bail to the four accused, members of a self-styled cow protection group in Mandsaur district.

The assault on the two women on Tuesday night triggered a political storm with opposition parties accusing the BJP-led government at the Centre of failing to reign in self-styled groups from taking law into their own hands.

It was later found that the women were carrying buffalo meat, allowed in the state.

ML Chauhan, the in-charge of Government Railway Police in Neemuch said the four accused had allegedly incited the mob that assaulted the two women.

One of them, Vikas Ahir, is said to be a local leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). It was Vikas who shot the video of the assault.