India's most populous state must immediately re-issue licences to abattoirs closed in a recent crackdown led by Hindu hardliners that angered the country's Muslim minority, a court ruled on Friday. The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state, a Hindu priest who has in the past been accused of fiery anti-Muslim rhetoric, ordered the closure of unlicenced slaughter houses after he was appointed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March.

The crackdown was welcomed by right-wing Hindu groups who want to end the slaughter of cows, considered holy in Hinduism, but hit the Muslim community hard. The minority accounts for almost a fifth of Uttar Pradesh's population and dominates the meat industry. The election of Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014 has emboldened many Hindu groups to press harder for protection of the cow, and several Muslims transporting cattle have been killed by vigilante groups. India's history is pockmarked by bloody Hindu-Muslim communal clashes.

Copyright Reuters, 2017