Vijayawada: Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi denounced cow vigilantes, a mob of “gau rakshaks” allegedly beat up two Dalits in East Godavari district after they skinned a cow which had died due to electrocution.
Two Dalit brothers were allegedly tied to a coconut tree, stripped and thrashed for skinning a dead cow in Andhra Pradesh. The incident took place at Janakipeta in Amalapuram town of the district in Andhra Pradesh. The dead animal was buried on Tuesday night, police said.
On Monday in Amalapuram, Mokati Elisa and his brother Lazar were hired to skin a cow that had died of electrocution, the police said. On getting to know of the skinning, the “gau rakshaks” (cow vigilantes) went to the place and beat up the duo, identified as Mokati Elisha and Lazer, suspecting that they had killed the animal. The brothers were admitted to a hospital in Amalapuram for treatment and Elisha’s condition was said to be serious. Two of their attackers have been identified as Gangadhar and Ramana.
“We have registered a case under SCs/STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against some persons, who are yet to be identified. We are investigating the case and gathering clues about the suspects,” a police official said over phone from Amalapuram.
The incident has taken place when four tannery workers were stripped to the waist, tied to an SUV, flogged and paraded for skinning a dead cow in Gujarat’s Una last month. The incident led to massive Dalit protests that were leveraged by opposition parties as they targeted the Modi government, accusing it of failing to protect the most underprivileged of society.
Three days PM Modi had said that he felt enraged at such “anti-social elements”, who indulged in crimes by the night and masqueraded as cow protectors by the day. Modi had asked people to beware of “fake” cow protectors as they were trying to create “tension and conflict” in the society.
