Dalit man succumbs to upper caste mob's attack in Gujarat
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Amreli/Gujarat: A 20-year-old Dalit man here was assaulted mercilessly after he addressed a teenager from the upper caste as ‘beta’ (son). He succumbed to his injuries six days later, on May 22, Thursday, Siasat reported.
According to an FIR filed, the victim has been identified as Nilesh Rathod from Jarakhiya village, Lathi Taluka, in Amreli district. The FIR was filed by his cousin Lalji Mansukh Chauhan, who was also assaulted along with the deceased.
The incident happened when Rathod and others were at a bhajiya stall on the Amreli-Savarkundla road, where he went to buy a packet of snacks. When the teenager reached out for the snacks, Rathod casually called him “beta” and asked if he needed help, as per the news report.
That is when he was attacked by the father of the teenager with an iron rod. He went to Chauhan and told him about this.
Chauhan went to the shop, along with Rathod, to enquire about this and the shopkeeper and another person standing nearby attacked the two. They were rescued only when the bhajiya stall owner intervened.
When Rathod’s uncle Suresh Vala came to know about the incident, he, along with Rathod, Chauhan and Dudhat, went to the bhajiya shop and confronted Chotha Khoda Bharwad.
Later, Rathore’s uncle came to know about this, and he took Rathod, Chauhan and the bhajiya shop owner to the spot, but they were confronted by a group of people with sticks and sickles. Even when the Dalits tried to flee, the attackers chased them.
Initially, the FIR named four accused: Chotha Khoda Bharwad, Vijay Anand Tota, Bhavesh Mundhwa, and Jatin Mundhwa, identified by the victims.
Police arrested nine of the eleven named in the FIR. They filed an FIR under several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including grievous hurt, unlawful assembly with deadly weapons, rioting, assault, intentional insult to provoke breach of peace, attempt to murder, and later, murder charges. The accused also faces charges under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Section 135 of the Gujarat Police Act.