Cow-related lynching incidents across India between September 2015

and September 2019

1) Name: Mohammad Akhlaq

Date: Sep 28, 2015

Reason: Lynched for alleged storing and consumption of beef at home

Location: Dadri, UP

Case: Yusuf Saifi, the lawyer of Akhlaq’s family, said that the trial has been going on

for about four years, charges have not been framed yet (Newslaundry inquiry)

2) Name: Zahid Ahmad Bhat

Date: October 9, 2015

Reason: A group of self-proclaimed gau rakshaks threw petrol bombs at Bhat while

he was carrying cow carcasses (later determined as of dead cows, not of

slaughtered ones) in a truck, he died of severe burns ten days later

Location: Udhampur, Jammu

Case status: 7 people were arrested in connection with the case; 5 of them were

booked under the Public Safety Act (as of October 2015) (​The Quint​)

3) Name: Noman Akhtar

Date: October 15, 2015

Reason: Lynched for allegedly smuggling cows for slaughter

Location: Sarahan, HP
Case status: 4 of Noman’s associates were booked under various sections of Cruelty

Against Animal Act; 12 persons accused of the lynching were arrested on Oct 29,

2015 (​The Quint​)

4) Name: Mohammad Mazloom and Inayatullah Khan

Date: March 17, 2016

Reason: attacked and lynched while the victims were on their way to a cattle fair with

their oxen

Location: Latehar, Jharkhand

Case status: 8 out of 12 accused persons were convicted for murder on Dec 19,

2018 by a Jharkhand court; one Vinod Prajapati- a local leader of the BJP who was

named as the prime accused in one of the three FIRs, is still absconding (​Newsclick​,

Dec 20, 2018)

5) Name: Kaushik Purkait

Date: May 9, 2016

Reason: Lynched for being mistaken as a cattle thief

Location​:​ Harindanga, WB

Case status: FIR was lodged naming 10 accused; TMC leader Tapas Mullick was

also arrested in connection with the murder (​The Quint)

6) Name: Praveen Poojary

Date: August 17, 2016

Location: Udupi, Karnataka

Reason: Lynched for reportedly transporting cattle

Case status: 18 members of an organization called Hindu Jagrana Vedike were

arrested and charged with murder and assault (​The Quint​); ‘Assailants’ were out on

bail (​Dalit Camera, a YouTube channel​, June 30, 2017)

7) Name: Mohammad Ayyub Mev

Date: September 13, 2016

Location: Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Reason: Lynched on the suspicion of transporting cows for slaughter

Case Status: All 8 accused in the case were granted bail by the Gujarat High Court

by mid-April, 2017 (​The Times of India​ , April 14, 2017)

8) Name: Pehlu Khan

Date: April 1, 2017

Location: Alwar, Rajasthan

Reason: Lynched for allegedly smuggling cattle

Case status: 6 out of 9 accused in the case were granted bail by a local court in

Alwar on August 14, 2019; A detailed account is given in the story cited of how the

case fell apart because of three investigating officers, two sets of doctors with

differing medical opinions, two videos whose source remained suspect and two

different sets of accused (​The Economic Times, August 17, 2019​)

9) Name: Abu Hanifa and Riazuddin Ali

Date: April 30, 2017

Location: Nagaon, Assam

Reason: Lynched for allegedly stealing cows

Case status: 2 persons were arrested and a case of murder was registered (​The

Quint​)

10) Name: Nasirul Haque, Mohammad Samiruddin and Mohammad Nasir

Date: June 22, 2017

Location: North Dinajpur, WB

Reason: Lynched for being caught while attempting to steal cattle

Case status: ​3 men arrested for the lynching were released on bail after spending 15

days in custody (​Newsclick​, January 31, 2018)

11) Name: Alimuddin Ansari alias Asgar Ali

Date: June 29, 2017

Location: Ramgarh, Jharkhand

Reason: Lynched on the accusation of carrying beef

Case Status: A fast-track district court sentenced 11 ‘gau rakshaks’ to life

imprisonment for the murder; but later 10 were out on bail, 1 is still in jail; challenge

petition going on in the Jharkhand High Court (Newslaundry inquiry)

12) Name: Anwar Hussain and Hafizul Sheikh

Date: August 27, 2017

Location: Jalpaiguri, WB

Reason: Lynched on the suspicion of stealing cattle

Case status: 3 persons were arrested in connection with the case (​The Hindu​,

August 28, 2017)

13) Name: Ummar Khan

Date: November 9, 2017

Location: Alwar, Rajasthan

Reason: Lynched for transporting cows

Case status: ​Police registered an FIR in the case, and 1 of the suspects was

detained; the police invoked section 147 of the Indian Penal Code that deals with

punishment for rioting, section 302 for murder, section 307 for an attempt to murder

and section 291 for causing the disappearance of evidence of an offence or giving

false information to screen offender. (​news18.com​ , November 13, 2017)

14) Name: Siraj Khan

Date: May 17, 2018

Location: Satna, MP

Reason: Lynched for allegedly slaughtering a bull

Case Status: Police arrested 4 men in connection with the case (​The Times of India​,

May 20, 2018)

15) Name: Sirabuddin Ansari and Murtaza Ansari

Date: June 13, 2018

Location: Godda, Jharkhand

Reason: Lynched on the suspicion of cow theft

Case Status: Police arrested 4 persons in connection with the case and ​the 4

accused have been booked under relevant sections of the IPC pertaining to murder

and riot (​dotodatabase.com​); trial going on in local court (Newslaundry inquiry)

16) Name: Mohammad Qasim

Date: June 18, 2018

Location: Hapur, UP

Reason: Lynched for allegedly slaughtering a cow

Latest media report on the case status: ​Police arrested 2 men — Yudhishtir Singh

and Rakesh Sisodia — on the charge of murder. Sisodia, the main accused, was let

out on bail just a few days later. But in a sting video, he was seen boasting of killing

Qasim for alleged cow slaughter. On Apr 8, 2019, SC asked the UP government to

file a fresh status report terming the incident ‘barbaric’ (​Newsclick​, April 13, 2019)

17) Name: Akbar Khan

Date: July 20, 2018

Location: Alwar, Rajasthan

Reason: Lynched ​on the suspicion of cow smuggling

Case status: T​he fourth accused, Vijay Kumar, was arrested in connection with the

case on August 22, 2019. ​The fifth accused, Naval Kishore, was still absconding,

police said. The police had already arrested 3 other accused in connection with the

case and filed a charge sheet against them​. ​(​The New Indian Express​, August 23,

2019)
18) Name: Unidentified person

Date: August 2, 2018

Location: Palwal, Haryana

Reason: Lynched for allegedly stealing cattle

Case status: Police filed an FIR against 3 villagers who beat the boy to death, 1 man

was arrested (​The Quint​)

19) Name: Deben Rajbongshi

Date: August 15, 2018

Location: Biswanath, Assam

Reason: Lynched on the suspicion of cattle theft

Case status: ​Police had found 15 people to be involved in the incident, they arrested

12 people in the next two days (​The Business Standard​, August 18, 2018)

20) Name: Ramsharan, Lajja Ram and Halke Ram

Date: August 15, 2018

Location: Auraiya, UP

Reason: Killed for opposing cow slaughter

Case status: ​The state police later arrested 5 men from the adjoining 'kasaayi

mohalla' (butchers' colony). The arrested persons said they had carried out the
barbaric murders in revenge as the sadhus had recently tipped off the police about

their illegal cow smuggling and slaughtering activities. (​dotodatabase.com​)

21) Name: Shahrukh Khan

Date: August 29, 2018

Location: Bareilly, UP

Reason: lynched on the suspicion of cattle theft

Case status: Police arrested 7 people in connection with the case (​The Hindustan

Times​, August 31, 2018)

22) Name: Rajendra Mohan

Date: November 17, 2018

Location: Bulandshahr, UP

Reason: Lynched for being allegedly mistaken as a cattle thief

Case status: Victim’s brother-in-law lodged an FIR; 2 constables and the driver of a

Police Control Room (PCR) van were suspended on account of their apathy

(​timesnownews.com​ , November 22, 2018)

23) Name: Subodh Kumar Singh

Date: December 3, 2018

Location: Bulandshahr, UP

Reason: Shot dead while dealing with a mob which had gathered over the discovery

of cow carcasses
Case Status: 38 people were named in the charge sheet, 5 of them are in jail

currently; ​disappointed with the bails of Yogesh Raj and Shikhar Agarwal- allegedly

the main instigator- the family filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court

last month. The petition is likely to come up for hearing in January next year

24) Name: Mohammad Kabul

Date: December 29, 2018

Location: Araria, Bihar

Reason: Lynched on the suspicion of cattle theft

Case status: ​Additional Director General of Police (headquarters) Kundan Krishnan

on January 04, 2019 said that the Superintendent of Police of Araria had been asked

to submit a detailed report on the lynching. (​The Times of India​, January 04, 2019)

25) Name: Prakash Lakra

Date: April 10, 2019

Location: Gumla, Jharkhand

Reason: Lynched by a group of over 30 people from another community of

neighbouring Jairagi village for cutting the flesh off a dead ox

Case status: The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has issued a

notice to Jharkhand’s director general of police (DGP) D K Pandey and Gumla

superintendent of police (SP) Anjani Kumar Jha, seeking information about action

taken in the Gumla lynching case.

Police had earlier registered two FIRs in the matter. The first was under the state’s

Bovine Animal Prohibition of Slaughter Act, 2005, against the deceased and 3

injured, besides unnamed others.

The second FIR was registered on the basis of the statements of the victims against

7 named accused and several others under several provisions of the IPC, including

murder, attempt to murder, criminal intimidation, intentional insult with intent to

provoke breach of the peace and rioting. (​The Hindustan Times​, May 10, 2019)

26) Name: Budhi Kumar Tripura

Date: July 2, 2019

Location: Dhalai, Tripura

Reason: Lynched on the suspicion of stealing a cattle

Case Status: Police said a case will be registered once the post-mortem was

complete (​The Quint​)

27) Name: Naushad Quraishi, Raju Nat and Videsh Nat

Reason: Lynched on the suspicion of cattle theft

Date: July 19, 2019

Location: Saran, Bihar

Case status: 3 men were arrested on the basis of an FIR filed by the families; ​the

police lodged a case of murder against some named and some unidentified villagers

(​Newsclick​, July 19, 2019)

28) Name: Kalantus Barla

Date: September 22, 2019

Location: Khunti, Jharkhand

Reason: Lynched for alleged cow slaughter

Case status: ​Police registered an FIR against 4 named persons and around

one-and-half-dozen unnamed persons in connection with the case; police also took a

few suspects to interrogate in connection with the case; trial is yet to begin in a local

court (​The Times of India​, September 24, 2019)