communal violence

'Police in India's Madhya Pradesh state have arrested some members of a Hindu group for attacking a Muslim couple on suspicion that they were carrying beef. The police said the couple was in a train when members of the Gauraksha Samiti seized a bag from them. The couple told the BBC that they were not carrying any bag containing beef. Most states ban the slaughter of cows, which is considered a sacred animal by India's majority Hindu community.

'Three days after Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced in Panipat that criminal cases against ‘gau rakshaks’ in Haryana would be revoked, an unidentified ‘cow protection vigilante’ team shot dead a migrant worker near Bhanukheri village in this district in the wee hours of Wednesday. The deceased, 25-year-old Khush Noor, is a native of Ballamajra village in Saharanpur. Another man, Ehsaan, suffered a minor injury and after being administered first aid was discharged from hospital.

'In the past four months, the country witnessed 300 incidents of communal violence, 75 every month, where 35 people were killed, according to Home Ministry data accessed by The Hindu. In the entire year till October, 630 incidents were reported and 86 persons lost their lives. The data do not show any spike in incidents under the NDA government. In 2013, when the UPA was in power, 823 such incidents were reported and in 2014 the figure stood at 644, the NDA came to power on May 26, 2014.

'At least 18 people, including three women, were injured in a clash between two communities over bursting crackers at Bhensi village under Khatoli police station in the district, police said. The violent clash, involving fire arms and stones, erupted on Thursday evening when children from one community allegedly started bursting crackers before houses of another community. Senior police officers rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control, police added...'