Another attack on Muslim trader over beef allegations in UP’s Aligarh
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A Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh district was targeted and beaten by cow vigilantes after being accused of carrying cow meat, despite repeatedly stating that the meat was buffalo purchased from a licensed supplier, an incident that underscores the continuing vulnerability of Muslim meat traders who are frequently subjected to violent attacks on mere suspicion, without verification and in defiance of legal procedures.
The victim, identified as 45-year-old meat trader Shareef Qureshi, was assaulted while he was travelling on his motorcycle to his shop in the Harduaganj area of Aligarh, carrying approximately 20 to 25 kilograms of meat that he had procured legally from a licensed supplier in the district, according to The Indian Express.
According to the complaint filed by Qureshi, he was intercepted on Hanumgarhi Road by a group of men who arrived on motorcycles and in a car, after which they accused him of transporting cow meat and stopped him from proceeding further.
Despite Qureshi’s insistence that the meat was buffalo meat and that he possessed valid purchase documents, the group allegedly attacked him using bricks, subjected him to verbal abuse and restrained him on the road, while his family later alleged that the assailants tore his documents before launching the assault.
The attack left Qureshi injured, and the incident triggered local outrage amid continuing concerns over cow vigilante violence targeting members of the Muslim community involved in the meat trade.
Following the complaint, the police registered a case under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including provisions relating to rioting, wrongful restraint, voluntarily causing hurt, breach of peace by intentional insult, criminal intimidation and mischief. The case names seven accused — Anuj Pandit, Sheelu Rajput, Naveen Chaudhary, Sumit Thakur, Aditya Hindu, Yashu Pandit and Prashant Jatav — along with 10 to 12 unidentified persons, all stated to be residents of the Harduaganj area.
The police arrested Anuj Pandit and Sheelu Rajput, while efforts are continuing to identify and apprehend the remaining accused persons named in the complaint, as well as those who are yet to be identified.
The police have also recovered a sample of the meat from Qureshi and sent it to a laboratory in Mathura for forensic examination to determine its nature, a step that officials said would help establish whether the meat was legally permissible buffalo meat.
Police officials stated that preliminary verification indicated that Qureshi had indeed purchased the meat from a licensed supplier in Aligarh and was transporting it to his shop when the assault occurred.