Muslim women severely beaten 'for carrying beef' in India

Cows are considered sacred by Hindus AFP/Getty Images

Two Muslim women have reportedly been beaten up at a train station in India on suspicion of carrying beef.

The women were reportedly about to be arrested after police were tipped off that they were travelling with a large quantity of beef to sell.

The two women were reportedly beaten by a mob shouting "Gau Mata Ki Jai (Hail holy cow)", NDTV reports.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of cows are illegally smuggled into Bangladesh where they are turned into shoes, belts, bone china crockery and meat (AP)

Video footage broadcast on local TV shows a mob slapping the women at a train station Mandsaur, in Madhya Pradesh.

Police recovered 30kg of meat from the women, which was later discovered to be buffalo meat, the Indian Express reports.

However, the women were reportedly still charged because they did not have a permit to sell meat.

Hindus consider cows to be sacred and the slaughter of cows is banned in many Indian states.

Earlier this month, protesters from India's low-caste community attacked government buses and blocked roads in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state in demonstrations over the flogging of four men accused of skinning a cow.