AHMEDABAD (TIP): Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that the killing of people by cow vigilantes is unacceptable; hours later, a man was killed in Jharkhand for allegedly carrying beef and his van was set on fire.

“Killing people in the name of Gau Bhakti is not acceptable,” said PM Modi. “No person in this nation has the right to take the law in his or her own hands in this country.” While saying that protecting cows, sacred for Hindus, is needed – “No one spoke about protecting cows more than Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Vinoba Bhave,” he said – “this (violence) is not something Mahatma Gandhi would approve of.”

Today’s mob attack in Jharkhand comes two days after a Muslim man was attacked in the same state after a dead cow was found near his house, parts of which were set on fire by a mob.

PM Modi last admonished cow vigilantes nearly a year ago in August. His remarks today were made at Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat, his home state, which votes soon, and a day after people across the country protested against mob attacks. Last week, a group of people on a train killed 16-year-old Junaid Khan, who was travelling home to his village in Haryana with his brother and two cousins after a shopping excursion to Delhi ahead of Eid.