Recently a video emerged that showed a Dalit man with ropes around his waist, tied to a pole and repeatedly thrashed with a stick. The man died due to the savage beating that was ordered by an auto-parts factory owner in Gujarat’s Rajkot. The police said that his wife was beaten too.
The man has been identified as Mukesh Vaniya, is a rag picker. His howls and cries can be heard in the video. It can also be seen that the two men took turns to thrash him. Jignesh Mevani tweeted the video saying “Mr. Mukesh Vaniya belonging to a scheduled caste was miserably thrashed and murdered by factory owners in Rajkot and his wife was brutally beaten up’ #GujaratIsNotSafe4Dalit”
'Mr. Mukesh Vaniya belonging to a scheduled caste was miserably thrashed and murdered by factory owners in Rajkot and his wife was brutally beaten up'.#GujaratIsNotSafe4Dalit pic.twitter.com/ffJfn7rNSc
— Jignesh Mevani (@jigneshmevani80) May 20, 2018
Rahul Gandhi too shared the video on Twitter condemning the BJP/RSS ideology and urging people to stop spreading the same.
ये रूह कंपा देने वाला वीडियो मनुवादी सोच का नतीजा है। इससे पहले ये बीमारी हमारे देश में और फैले, हमें इसे रोकना होगा। RSS/BJP की इस दमनकारी सोच को हम सब मिलकर हराएंगे। वक्त है बदलाव का। pic.twitter.com/Sru8BedhVK
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 23, 2018
NDTV reports that five people, including the factory owner, was arrested on charges of murder under the law on atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
“We have arrested five people, including the factory owner. I cannot reveal his name yet as it’s not mentioned in the FIR (first information report). A murder case has been filed under the SC/ST Act and a deputy rank officer will probe the case,” Rajkot senior police officer Shruti Mehta said.
What happened?
Mukesh and his wife were collecting metal scraps with the help of magnets when some factory workers confronted them and accused them of theft. His wife escaped and went to the nearby village to get help. When she came back, Mukesh was on the ground. He was declared dead on arriving at the hospital.
The Logical Indian Take
Incidents of people getting lynched because of misinformation are not new. No matter what happens one should not take the law in their own hand. If a person suspects someone as a thief then they should be handed over to the police for further action. Flogging is wrong.