'Lynching in the name of cow protection not acceptable', says BJP's Ram Madhav

Amid rising incidents of lynching of people by 'gau-rakshaks' across the country, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary Ram Madhav on Sunday said that lynching in the name of protecting something is not acceptable.

"You cannot lynch anybody in the name of protecting something. Cow protection is sacred but life is the most sacred thing. In the name of a sacred thing you cannot soil sacredness of life," Madhav told media here.

On June 22, Junaid Khan was allegedly lynched by unidentified persons on a local train while travelling from Ghaziabad to Mathura.

The incident took place when Junaid along with his brothers were returning to their village on Haryana after going to shop for Eid in Delhi.

Haseeb, Junaid's brother, said his skull cap was pulled off and his beard was tugged while the mob hurled abuses at them and were called "beef-eaters".
Many people, across the country, were lynched over the past few months by cow vigilante groups.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also said that killing in the name of an animal sacred to majority Hindus was wrong.
The Central Government had last month come out with new rules to ban the sale of cows and buffaloes for slaughter.