Dalit youth assaulted during religious festivals in Chhattisgarh, police fail to invoke SC/ST Act

In Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur constituency, represented by BJP MP and Union Minister Tokhan Sahu, two brutal caste-based assaults on Dalit youth have sparked outrage.

The attacks, which took place on consecutive nights during Hindu religious festivals, have once again highlighted how public religious spaces can become sites of caste violence.

The incidents occurred on October 19 and 20, 2025, in Mahmand and Bharda villages.

Both victims — one a minor — sustained serious injuries.

On October 19, 16-year-old Ashutosh Barle, a tenth-grade student at Massorie Shisu Mandir Bhawan, was home for a short vacation when he decided to attend a Kali Mata Puja celebration in his village. Drawn by the music and lights, he went to the event where a DJ had been set up behind the Panchayat Bhawan.

There, the accused, identified as Pradeep Maharaj, noticed him and began hurling casteist slurs. He mocked the boy’s presence at the festival before physically attacking him. Soon, his friends — Deepeshwar, Rahul, and others — joined in. They verbally abused Ashutosh and beat him with “fists and rods.”

Ashutosh fainted on the spot. A villager informed his mother, who rushed to bring him home. However, the attackers followed and began pelting stones at their house. Fearing for their safety, Sarita locked herself and her younger children inside.

According to Dalit activist Sanjeet Barman, the police did not record the incident accurately when the family reported it.

The following night, October 20, a similar attack took place in Bharda village during the Laxmi Utsav celebration. Lokesh Kumar Jangde, a 20-year-old Dalit farmer and part-time driver, was watching the program when Amit Yadav, from the dominant caste, confronted him and questioned his presence at the event.

Amit hurled abusive remarks about Lokesh’s mother and sister. When Lokesh objected, he was dragged to the edge of the pandal and beaten by Amit, Roshan Yadav, Shiva Yadav, and others.

Bharda village has only one Scheduled Caste family, while the rest belong to OBC and general castes. Though an FIR was filed, the Yadav family has allegedly been pressuring Lokesh to withdraw his complaint.

Despite the clear caste-based nature of both attacks, neither FIR includes charges under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The omission is significant because the Atrocity Act ensures faster trials, special courts, and victim protection, unlike general charges under the IPC.

Activist Barman alleged that officers at the Torwa Police Station mishandled the complaint. He said they even abused the victim’s family and accused the minor of attending a “higher-caste festive function,” an act he described as blatant victim-blaming.

Barman added that “In Ashutosh Barle’s case, the POSCO Act is also missing.” He said he hopes to convince the police to apply the correct provisions in both cases.

The attacks have revived memories of Chhattisgarh’s long struggle against caste discrimination. The state was once home to Guru Ghasidas, the 19th-century saint who founded the Satnami sect to promote equality and social reform. Many Dalit communities, especially the Chamar community, follow his teachings today.

The back-to-back assaults in Mahmand and Bharda reveal how caste hostility continues to define rural Chhattisgarh’s social fabric — and how systemic failures in law enforcement leave Dalit victims without the justice the Constitution promises them.