Washington: US State Department Spokesman John Kirby, expressed concern over reports of “rising intolerance and violence” in India.
“We’re obviously concerned by reports of rising intolerance and violence… As we do in countries facing such problems around the world, we urge the government to do everything in its power to protect citizens and to hold the perpetrators accountable,” the US Spokesman said.
“We stand in solidarity with the people and Government of India in supporting exercise of freedom of religion and expression and in confronting all forms of intolerance,” Kirby added.
He was responding to questions on reports of violence against people eating beef and assault on two Muslim women carrying buffalo meat at Mandsaur railway station in Madhya Pradesh.
(Image of the Muslim women being assaulted by cow protectors at a railway station in Madhya Pradesh in India for carrying buffalo meat)
Three weeks earlier, in another another incident, four dalit youths in Gujarat had been beaten up brutally by cow vigilantes for skinning a dead cow.