Mob in Tamil Nadu attacks Muslim man for uploading picture of himself eating beef; people on Twitter express outrage

A Muslim man was allegedly attacked by a group of people at a village near Nagapattinam for uploading a picture of himself consuming beef soup, police said on Friday. Four people have been arrested in this connection, police added.

The CPM state unit condemned the incident and called for stringent action against the accused. Mohammed Faisan, 24, of Poravachery, had posted the Facebook picture on Thursday and also described its taste.

The group of people objected to the post and went to Faisan’s house on Thursday night and questioned him, police said. After a quarrel, they attacked him, police said. Faisan was injured and admitted to the government hospital in Nagapattinam.

On the orders of District Superintendent of Police TK Rajasekaran, police registered a case and arrested four people on Friday. They are: Dinesh Kumar (28), Agathian (29), Ganeshkumar (27) and Mohankumar (28).

Police have registered cases against him under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including an attempt to murder. Meanwhile, the CPM Tamil Nadu unit condemned the attack on Faizan and said while such attacks were happening on Dalits and Muslims in north India, “the state government and police should nip such episodes in the bud” in Tamil Nadu.

“Those behind the murderous attack should be given stringent punishment,” the party’s state unit Secretary K Balakrishnan said in a statement in Chennai.

In protest against the incident, many people took to Twitter and voiced their outrage using hashtags like #Beef4life, #WeLoveBeef, #BeefForlife. These hashtags are currently trending on Twitter in India. Here are some of the tweets:

Let's see which matters more in New India, beef or Human Life#Beef4life

RT Like pic.twitter.com/5WdA6ndF5P

— Sarcasm ™️ (@SarcasticRofl) July 12, 2019

RSS stay away from TN, don't dare to send ur Hindu makal katchi gundas to mess wit Tamils. #Beef4life #BeefForLife #WeLoveBeef pic.twitter.com/7cDjVEKPLp

— Mohammed Rahaman (@Mohammed53098) July 12, 2019

Lets fight on this for next 100 years and keep India backwards as always. For the last time, FOOD IS A PERSONAL CHOICE. LEAVE IT TO THAT. Let India be a country with a home for every culture. Stop using Paks example of #PorkBan. They are regressive, not us. #BeefBan #Beef4life

— Vinit Tibrewal (@vinittibrewal) July 12, 2019

(With inputs from PTI)