Cow vigilantes, mobs force Muslim-owned biryani stall and juice shop to close in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan

Mathura/Bharatpur: Hindutva activists have again targeted Muslim-owned food businesses in north India, forcing at least two shopkeepers to shut their outlets after accusing them of selling or contaminating food, videos and witnesses show.

On June 17 in Vrindavan, Mathura district, self declared cow vigilante Deepak Tiwari and his associates confronted a biryani vendor and demanded to inspect the pot. A video of the encounter shows Tiwari shouting “Jai Shri Ram” and accusing the vendor of selling meat in the holy town, before ordering the makeshift stall to be closed. The vendor complied amid the intimidation.

Separately in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, a Muslim shopkeeper was assaulted after a crowd accused him of mixing meat pieces into sugarcane juice sold at his outlet. A video circulated on social media shows people raising religious slogans outside the shop as the shopkeeper denied the allegation and said he was being targeted for his religion. Despite his protestations, he was attacked.

Both incidents are part of a wider pattern of Hindutva groups policing public behaviour and religious norms, particularly around food and the presence of Muslim-run businesses near temples.

Earlier this year, a right wing leader in Ghaziabad forced an elderly mutton shop owner to close by threatening arson if the store remained open on Tuesdays; in Uttarakhand and other states, similar protests have shut or prevented Muslim run salons and eateries from operating after communal slogans and accusations such as “love jihad” or unsanitary behaviour.