Chennai: A young Muslim man was beaten up by four men in Tamil Nadu on Thursday evening; they had allegedly objected to him posting a photograph on Facebook relishing beef soup. The victim, Mohamed Fisan of Poravachery village in coastal Nagapattinam district, has been admitted to the local Government Hospital for treatment of injuries and the police have arrested four persons in connection with the incident.
One of those arrested is a functionary of the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, founded by TTV Dhinakaran, the nephew of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's jailed aide V K Sasikala.
According to the police, 24-year-old Mohammed had consumed beef soup and posted a photograph on Facebook saying it tasted good. Upon seeing the photograph, four men from his village -- Dinesh Kumar (AMMK functionary), Ganesh Kumar, Mohan Kumar and Agathian -- confronted him and picked up a quarrel questioning how he could post the photo.
“Mohammed defended his action saying he had a right to consume any food that he liked and post it on social media. Angered over his response, the four men beat him up using wooden logs and iron rod. Mohammed sustained injuries on his shoulder and wrist and is undergoing treatment at the Nagapattinam Government Hospital,” a police officer told Free Press Journal over phone.
“We have booked them on charges of promoting enmity between two groups on grounds of religion and race, doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony, criminal intimidation and causing injury among others,” the officer added. Meanwhile condemning the incident netizens began tweeting with the hash tags #Beef4life and #WeLoveBeef in a big way on Friday.
