New Delhi: A Dalit man was killed in Udha village of Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh district on Friday with family members insisting he was attacked for touching an idol at a Durga puja pandal. And though the police have dismissed the claim that caste was a factor – they said this was merely a “social media rumour” – the FIR filed by Pratapgarh police under section 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code also includes section 3(2)(v) of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The incident, which occurred on September 30, appears to have first been tweeted by the Hindi news portal ‘Bolta Hindustan’, early on October 4. It was then retweeted by several others, including Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh.
उत्तर प्रदेश के प्रतापगढ़ में भगवान की मूर्ति छू लेने पर दलित की हत्या !
50 साल के जगरुप को पीट-पीटकर मार डाला गया
संदीप मिश्रा, कुलदीप मिश्रा पर एफआईआर दर्ज, आरोपी फरारpic.twitter.com/4lz64IkCYk
— Bolta Hindustan (@BoltaHindustan) October 3, 2022
In the video tweeted by Bolta Hindustan, the widow of Jagroop, the man purportedly killed, is heard saying that he went to a nearby house to see the Durga Puja there and was killed there. She names two men, “Munna” and “Sandeep.” The video also shows what appears to be Jagroop’s corpse.
This story was originally published in thewire.in . Read the full story here