Indian MPs in uproar after four members of lower caste stripped and beaten

India’s parliament was in uproar Wednesday after four men belonging to the low-caste Dalit community were beaten while trying to skin a dead cow in western India. Lawmakers from the opposition parties shouted slogans while accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of failing to protect the Dalits, who belong to the lowest rung of Hinduism’s caste hierarchy. Videos of the four being stripped and beaten with sticks by men claiming to be cow protectors in Gujarat state last week have gone viral and have sparked protests by Dalit groups across the state. Hindus consider cows to be sacred and the slaughter of cows is banned in many parts of India.

Dalits are being oppressed in Gujarat and we have to raise our voices to get the government to act. This is an organized crime that is happening in Gujarat.

Derek O'Brien, a lawmaker from West Bengal state

Vigilante groups comprising mostly members of Hindu nationalist organizations have become active in small towns and cities across India over the past year. Last year, a Muslim man was lynched by a mob in northern Uttar Pradesh state over charges that his family had eaten beef for dinner. Dalits usually carry out undesirable tasks such as skinning dead animals, and many work in tanneries and in the leather industry. The four men who were attacked by vigilantes in Una town in Gujarat last week worked in a tannery. Eight people have been arrested.

Dalits are being oppressed in Gujarat and we have to raise our voices to get the government to act.

Derek O'Brien, a lawmaker from West Bengal state

Dalit