Elderly Muslim severely beaten, house set on fire over dead cow in India

NEW DELHI: With incidents of cow vigilantism on the rise, an elderly Muslim man was severely beaten and his house set on fire by a mob in a village of Indian state of Jharkhand after a dead cow was allegedly found outside his residence, Indian media reported.

According to NDTV report, the Muslim man was identified as Usman Ansari. He and his family were rescued by police. The police fired gunshots to disperse the mob.

The severely injured Usman was shifted to hospital for treatment.

"Our men braved the crowd and immediately rescued Ansari and his family members. When the police tried to take him to hospital, there was resistance from the crowd. There was heavy stone-pelting. We had to open fire in the air," said a senior police officer RK Mullik, the report said.

Two men were injured, both in the legs, in the police firing and are in hospital too. About 50 policemen are also reported injured in the stone throwing.

No one has been arrested so far for the attack on Mr Ansari.

In April, a Muslim dairy farmer was lynched in Rajasthan for allegedly smuggling cows.