At least 30 Hindu men have been involved in an attack which led to the death of a Muslim man in India who was accused of killing and secretly eating a cow.
Blacksmith Mohammad Akhlaq died on Monday night after being kicked and beaten with stones by the mob in the town of Dadri, 30 miles from the capital, New Delhi.
The men attacked after an earlier - larger - group had gathered outside the home, accusing the family of secretly eating beef.
While many Indian Hindus do not eat beef because they consider cows to be holy creatures - others, particularly people in the south or members of lower castes - as well as Christians and Muslims - do.
Mr Akhlaq's daughter told how she watched helplessly and tried to save her father: "I screamed and shouted to tell the mob that we did not eat beef, and they should stop beating my father and my brother, but they pushed me away.
Her brother was taken to hospital suffering from severe injuries.
Six people were arrested and a sample of meat taken from the dead man's home has been removed to test if it was beef.
The murder led to clashes between Hindus and Muslims in the town with extra police brought in to break them up
One policeman blamed extremist Hindu politicians' calls for a toughening up on the laws of cow protection for the attacks.
"The incident is shocking," he said. "The Hindu mob felt they had a licence to kill."
India is the world's largest exporter of beef and its fifth biggest consumer with that meat trade run mostly by Muslims.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pro-Hindu government wants a nationwide ban on cow slaughter and the beef trade and has clamped down on the illegal trade of cattle with mostly Muslim Bangladesh.
While the slaughter of cows is banned in the populous northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where Dadri is, the eating of beef is not.
Mr Akhlaq's daughter said there was no justification for murder, even if the family had been eating beef.
"I saw my father being killed and no one came to save him," said Sajida Saifi. "How can eating meat or beef become such a big crime?"
(Sky News)
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