Violence in Jharkhand village, man beaten up over meat

A man belonging to a minority community was beaten up and houses were burnt in a village in Koderma district of Jharkhand after residents suspected that he had served banned meat to wedding guests on Monday.

Nawadih village in Domchanch block was put under Section 144, which restricts people from assembling, after the violence.

Villagers on Tuesday found hooves and bones in a field behind the man’s house and alleged that he had served banned meat at his son’s wedding reception on Monday night, police said.

The villagers thrashed him, ransacked houses near his home and damaged vehicles.

“We have arrested seven persons in this connection. The situation is under control now,” said Koderma Superintendent of Police Shivani Tiwari.

“We have sent the hooves for forensic test and can confirm only after receiving a report,” Tiwari said when asked about the meat.

The man is being treated at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Ranchi.

A mob lynched meat trader Alimuddin Ansari in Ramgarh town on June 29, 2017, suspecting that he was carrying beef in his car.

Forensic tests later confirmed that the meat he was carrying was beef, the sale of which is banned in the state. Eleven cow vigilantes were sentenced to life imprisonment by a Ramgarh court last month in connection with the case.