Tribal community protesting against the lynching on Wednesday.

By Veena Nair  / Siasat

A day after two tribal men were lynched to death by a mob for alleged cow smuggling in Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh, the tribal community protested on Wednesday by blocking roads and demanding justice as well as strict action against the accused.

A video going viral on Twitter shows a crowd of tribals standing with one person lying flat on the road as a mark of protest.

Speaking to media, Kurai police station in charge said that 12 persons have been arrested so far. “Six of them were earlier arrested and now six more are arrested,” the official said.

He further added that three of them belonged to the right-winged organisation Bajrang Dal while six of them belonged to Shri Ram Sena organisation and the remaining three were not affliated with any organisation.

The accused were booked under Section 147 (Punishment for rioting), 148 (Rioting armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (If an offense be committed by any member of an unlawful assembly, every other member of such assembly shall be guilty of the offense), 302 (Murder), 330 (Voluntarily causing hurt to extort confession or information, or to compel restoration of property), and 325 (Voluntarily causing grievous hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

According to the information received here, some people reached Simaria village under Kurai police station in Seoni district after coming to know of alleged cow smuggling in the area.

They started beating those who were allegedly involved in the act. Two people were killed and one person received serious injuries in the incident, which took place on Monday night. In protest, members of the tribal community blocked the road on National Highway 44, demanding justice.

This article first appeared on siasat.com