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be observed through the airwaves and the printed media. For instance,
in March of 2002, 5 dalits (untouchables) were beaten to death and then

burned near a police station. Their “crime” was to skin a dead cow but
rumors to the effect that they had killed the cow circulated and their fate
was thus sealed. The killers’ explanation for their crime came straight
from the perverse Hindu belief: “They killed our mother!” they said, re-
ferring to the belief that cows are the “mothers” of humanity. 27 Such
news is common in India where the caste system rules. For example, ac-
cording to a report by the The Times of India, a member of the lower castes

was violently beaten for making contact with the garb of a Hindu be-
28
longing to the higher castes. The same newspaper printed another re-
port by which members of the higher castes threw animal corpses and
excrement into a well used by untouchables, but the police could not be
persuaded to take action against the perpetrators. An untouchable at-
29
tempted to participate in a ceremony in a Hindu temple, but was raped
30
and subjected to vicious torture. A school expelled 38 Dalit (untouch-
able) children for attempting to drink from the same water as other chil-
dren, because according to superstitious Hindu beliefs, dalits are forbid-
31
den to drink from the same source as higher caste members. On the
11th of July, 1997, the Maharasthra police opened fire on a group of in-
nocent untouchables who were peacefully protesting in Mumbai
(Bombay). Thirty untouchables were killed and hundreds wounded.
These were not warning shots, but shots meant to kill and many woman
and children died in what can only be called a massacre. Later, the po-
lice did not permit the wounded to be taken to hospital which increased
the death toll further. Following this barbaric attack, the UN called on

the Indian government to restore law and order and to bring those who
were responsible for this massacre to justice, but nothing concrete came
of it. Such attacks, rapes and burnings continue across India.

Islam And Far Eastern Religions