Dalit youth assaulted for ‘using upper castes surname’, one arrested

A day after a 20-year-old Dalit youth was assaulted for allegedly “using an upper caste surname” outside a factory at Sanand area in Ahmedabad rural, police arrested the main accused on Thursday.

Dalit community members protesting in Gujarat against incident of violence against them.

By Express News Service

According to an FIR filed at Sanand GIDC police station on Thursday, the victim Bharat Jadav (20), a resident of Sanand, was allegedly assaulted by three persons on Wednesday around 10 pm for allegedly using the surname of ‘Kshatriya’ caste.

Jadav works in Magneti Marelli Motherson (MMM) company in Sanand. In his police complaint, he said he was allegedly assaulted by his co-worker Harshad Rajput and two other unidentified persons.

“On Wednesday, around 2 pm, as I entered the factory premises during my work shift, I was stopped by a co-worker named Harshad Rajput who asked me my name. When I told him that my name is Bharat Jadav, he did not say anything. Later, around 4 pm, Harshad again approached me during the break and asked me my native village to which I replied that I hailed from Bhetani village in Gir Somnath district after which he asked about my caste, to which I replied that I am a Dalit,” Bharat Jadav.

“Then around 10 pm as I finished my work shift and was waiting for a bus outside the factory gate, two unidentified persons approached me and asked why I had dared to tell Harshad that I am like his brother and belong to his community, when I am a Dalit. They then assaulting me. After a few moments, Harshad also arrived and hurled casteist abuses at me and started beating me. I ran towards a bus which was passing through the area and saved my life,” he added.

Police booked Harshad Rajput, a resident of Viramgam in Ahmedabad rural and two unidentified persons under IPC sections 323 (assault), 504 (intentional insult) and 114 (offence committed when abettor present along with sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe(Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

“We have arrested Harshad from his residence yesterday night and he has been produced before the magistrate today which remanded him in judicial custody. We are yet to identify the identity of other accused involved. Probe is going on,” said Bhaskar Vyas, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Ahmedabad rural.

This story first appeared on  indianexpress.com

 

 

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