As September arrived, a number of new cases of violence against Dalits have arisen. Last month, Sabrang India brought its readers a number of cases of violence against Dalit men, women, and children that were to a large extent widely unreported in the media or failed to gain traction on social media. Sabrang India covered incidents from Tamil Nadu to Madhya Pradesh. For instance, in the month of August itself Tamil Nadu reported two separate incidents of attacks on Dalit School students, Maharashtra saw a Dalit woman brutally assaulted in public view, and Rajasthan witnessed the tragic deaths of two Dalit youths. Additionally, Maharashtra reported horrifying incidents of Dalit boys being tied and assaulted, another case of a Dalit man being murdered, and another young Dalit man mercilessly beaten to death in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district. The least seems to be never-ending. Yet, this week again two more incidents have come to light.
Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh
This chilling incident from UP reveals the prevalence of caste-based violence in India. An 18-year-old Dalit youth was killed in Sultanpur allegedly for a simple demand of Rs 1200 of unpaid wages for a full four days of labour at a farm in Baramadpur village. The victim’s elder brother spoke to The Quint, stating, “This is the price one pays for being a Dalit in this country. What was his fault? They killed him for just Rs 1200. That’s how cheap our lives are.”
On August 25, around 3 pm, the victim went on his cycle to collect the owed wages at the house of one Anuj Yadav. However, by 7 pm that same evening, Girijesh Yadav arrived at the victim’s home informing them that the young man had met with an “accident” and had been hospitalised in Ambedkarnagar’s civil hospital. Upon reaching the hospital at 8 pm, the family was informed their loved had already passed away.
This story was originally published in newsclick.in. Read the full story here