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India's top court tells government to stop cow vigilante violence

New Delhi - India is reeling from a spate of horrific lynchings mostly targeting the country's minority.

 India's Supreme Court proposed measures on Wednesday to stem what it called growing violence by vigilantes who claim to be protecting cows.
India is reeling from a spate of horrific lynchings mostly targeting the country's minority.
The Supreme Court was responding to a private petition from Tushar Gandhi, the great grandson of India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.
It said state governments should appoint senior police officers tasked specifically with curbing such attacks. "There should be a planned strategy to stop growing violence in this sphere," said the judges, headed by India's Chief Justice Dipak Misra.
The slaughter of cows and the possession or consumption of beef is banned in most Indian states, with some imposing life sentences for breaking the law.
Violence by cow vigilantes has cost 28 lives since 2010. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party has promised to completely outlaw cow slaughter across India.