UP: Two farmers beaten up by anti-cow-slaughter activists, 1 held

Noida: Anti-cow slaughter activists allegedly beat up two men who were taking a cow to their home on Thursday afternoon following which one of the accused persons was arrested last night, police said.

"One of the accused named Gaurav has been arrested. To nab the other accused persons, a manhunt has been launched. They are alleged to have beaten up two farmers on the suspicion of cow slaughtering," Jewar police station in-charge Ajay Sharma said.

The two farmers, who were allegedly attacked on Thursday, were Bhoop and Jabar Singh, police said. Significantly, the incident occurred in an area where a man named Akhlaq was lynched in September 2015 by a mob on suspicions that he had consumed beef. The incident had led to a nation-wide furore.

According to the version of the activists involved in the incident that occurred on Thursday, they had caught two cattle smugglers and handed them over to the cops, a police official said.

The farmers who were attacked said they had received the cow and calf as gift from a Muslim friend named Asgar, in Mehndipur, as it yielded just 2 litres of milk per day.