India mob kills Muslim teen in beef row, one arrested

Junaid Khan, 15, was travelling from New Delhi on 
Friday with three of his brothers when a fight erupted 
over seats.

Indian police Saturday said one person has been 
arrested after a mob stabbed a Muslim teenager to death 
on suspicion of carrying beef, an offence in many parts 
of the Hindu-majority country.

Cows are revered by Hindus and slaughtering them as 
well as possession or consumption of beef is banned in 
most Indian states, with some imposing life sentences for breaking the law.

Junaid Khan, 15, was travelling from New Delhi on Friday 
with three of his brothers when a fight erupted over seats.

Between 15 and 20 men pulled out knives and set upon 
the brothers while making anti-Muslim comments and insisting one of the packets they were carrying contained 
beef.

While Khan was stabbed to death, his brother Shakir 
sustained injuries on the throat, chest and hands, police said.

"The fight started over seats. We are looking into the matter
and we have arrested one of the accused who is a 35-
year-old old man from (northern state of) Haryana," Ajay Kumar, a government railway police official told AFP.

Khan's brother Hassem told reporters the mob ignored 
their repeated pleas that they were not carrying any beef.

"They were pointing at a packet which had food and 
saying we should not be allowed to sit since we were 
carrying beef," Haseem said.

The incident is the latest such attack by Hindu 
vigilantes in India, where there have been a spate of 
assaults against Muslims and low-caste Dalits.

In the last two years, nearly a dozen Muslim men have 
been killed across the country on suspicion of eating 
beef or smuggling cows.

Critics say vigilantes have been emboldened by the 
election in 2014 of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party.

Last year Modi criticised the cow protection vigilantes 
and urged a crackdown against groups using religion as a cover for committing crimes.