Dalit man harassed at temple for alleged blasphemy; 7 arrested
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Jaipur: A Dalit man reportedly got forced to rub his nose on a platform inside a temple here in Rajasthan for alleged derogatory remarks on Hindu gods. He made the alleged remarks on a social media exchange over the controversial "The Kashmiri Files" movie, PTI reported citing police.
Police informed that an FIR was registered on Tuesday, naming 11 people, out of which seven got arrested. The FIR charged them with relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Scheduled Castes and Schedule Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, police said.
A video of the incident that happened on Monday, in which the Dalit man, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, was seen forced to rub his nose got, surfaced recently. Police said that Rajesh, a private bank employee, had criticised "The Kashmir Files" in a post he wrote on Facebook. The post had gathered criticism.
He had asked in the post whether the atrocities were only faced by the Pandits and not Dalits. He said that the poor are suffering atrocities every day, and they are not safe. To the post, some commented 'Jai Shri Ram' and 'Jai Shri Krishna' and Rajesh allegedly replied derogatory remarks provoking people.
Despite posting an apology later on Facebook for his comments, some locals took him to a nearby temple on March 21 and forced him the rub his nose.
The arrested seven were identified as Ajay Kumar Sharma, Sanjeet Kumar, Hemant Sharma, Parvinder Kumar, Ramavtar Singh, Nitin Jangid and Dayaram, police said.