Indian police suspended over lynching of Muslim man


Four Indian policemen were suspended after a video on social media showed them failing to provide the victim of a mob lynching with medical assistance, authorities said Monday.

The officers were suspended on Sunday, three days after a mob beat a Muslim business-school graduate to death near Imphal, the capital of Manipur in northeastern India, according to police official Jogeshchandra Haobijam. The video shows armed policemen standing around the man as he lay on his side in a field.

Haobijam said the man died because of a lack of medical attention.

Villagers told police the mob set upon the man because they suspected him of attempting to steal a vehicle, Haobijam said, adding that an investigation was ongoing. He said five suspected attackers have been arrested.

Police in western India came under fire in July for failing to help a Muslim cattle trader who had been severely beaten by a mob of Hindu villagers. The man later died.

Such attacks have been on the rise in India since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took power in 2014.