Dozens dead as cow protection mobs attack meat trucks in India

Violence against meat trucks in India leaves dozens dead

What drives a group of people to stop a truck, wreck it and kill the driver on the mere suspicion that it is carrying beef? In India this is not a hypothetical: it is a pattern documented by local and international media. Dozens of drivers have died in attacks by groups who call themselves protectors of the cow, an animal sacred to Hinduism.

The pattern repeats itself: a truck is intercepted, its occupants are dragged out and beaten to death. The accusation is almost always the same: transporting beef, something banned in several Indian states. But the suspicion is rarely verified. As analyses point out, behind the religious defence often lie less pious motives: extortion, score-settling or the chronic tension between Hindu and Muslim communities, who have traditionally worked in the meat trade.

Suspicion as a death sentence

The problem is not only the violence, but the arbitrariness. If the truck turns out not to be carrying meat, who answers for the driver's life? The question, uncomfortable as it is, remains unanswered. And meanwhile, extremism keeps advancing. The meat industry tries to secure its routes, but antiestéticar has already changed the landscape: some hauliers refuse to carry goods that might raise suspicion, while others have turned their vehicles into improvised fortresses.

There is an irony that those involved prefer to ignore: the ban on killing cows does not stop their meat being eaten. Many Hindus, even those strict about other rituals, have no problem cutting up a dead animal. The border between sanctity and business is, to say the least, porous. That undermines the vigilantes' argument, but it does nothing to curb their fury.

While the authorities look the other way or merely pay lip service to condemning the attacks, trucks keep crossing the country's roads antiestéticaring they will be the next target. The cow remains sacred. The driver's life, far less so.