Three tribal Christians suspected of slaughtering a cow and selling beef were attacked by a group of men in Jaltanda Suari village in Jharkhand.
The three men in critical conditions were rushed to the hospital but one of them died on the way.
A group of 12-15 men attacked the tribal Christians after rumors about them slaughtering the cow and selling beef at a riverside market spread via series of WhatsApp and text messages.
The horrific attack against Christians was strongly condemned by Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC). He regretted that Jharkhand has become a hotbed of anti-Christian violence specifically targeted by extremist forces. "Cow slaughter is another propaganda tool used against tribal Christians in secular democratic India," George said.
Kalantus Barla, who died in the mob attack, was mentally disabled. He was the fourth tribal Christian lynched in Jharkhand by self-styled Gau Rakshaks.
John Dayal, general secretary of the All India Christian Council and president of the All India Catholic Union said, "God alone knows the real numbers of Muslims, Christians, Dalits killed by these murderous gangs in the last two years. They may or may not have the patronage of senior political leaders of the BJP[†] in the state, but they surely revel in the state of impunity that exists in the state where Hindutva is a concern."
Dayal noted that although the Prime Minister Modi once chastised the Gau Rakshaks in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, the recurrent killings are evidence of the absolute lack of political will to stop them.
The Christian leader further explained that what makes it worse is the police unwilling to act. If "they are partners in crime when they accompany the monsters and see the victim being beaten up, they are late on the scene, falter in taking the victim to hospital, errant in recording the names of the people involved, absolutely non-scientific in collecting evidence and recording the statements of the victim, if he is still alive, or of the witnesses. The court records in lynching cases speak for themselves," Dayal said.
So far, local police officials have arrested five individuals in lynching case.
