Cow vigilantes attack family in northern India

Five people from a nomadic family were injured in an attack by cow protection vigilantes in northern India over suspicions they were transporting cattle for slaughter, police said Saturday.

The Muslim family was moving with their livestock in Jammu and Kashmir state's Reasi district when they were assaulted by the mob, regional police chief Tahir Sajad Bhat said.

Among the wounded was a 9-year-old girl.

‘The group targeted a 75-year old man, who sustained a fracture injury. The girl and three women suffered minor wounds and bruises in the melee. They were discharged after treatment,’ Bhat said.

India's Hindu majority regard cows as sacred. This is the latest in a series of incidents of cow protection activists attacking people transporting cattle in various parts of the country.

Bhat said the family filed the complaint on Friday, a day after the attack. ‘We will take strict action. We have identified five main accused. The culprits will be arrested soon.’  Premier Narendra Modi, whose Hindu nationalist BJP came to power in 2014, has criticized the vigilantes but the attacks have continued.

Earlier this month, a 55-year-old Muslim man was killed in a similar attack in the north-western state of Rajasthan.