Gujarat: Dalit Mother And Son Thrashed For Skinning Dead Cow Near Crematorium

A Dalit man and his mother were thrashed allegedly by a group of 15 upper caste men for skinning a dead cow near a crematorium at a village in Anand district of Gujarat, according to a report by The Hindustan Times.

The 22-year-old Dalit man said in his complaint that the men who were Rajputs from Kasor Village, stormed into his residence on Saturday night and started verbally abusing him and his mother, referring to their caste. The mob beat them up when they protested and even threatened them with “dire consequences”.

The incident

For nearly twenty minutes on Saturday night, Sailesh Rohit and his mother Maniben, 45, were allegedly beaten up. They were thrashed with sticks by nearly 20 people.

“On Friday, Darbar community members threatened me to stop the skinning work saying it was raising a stink in their locality. To avoid any trouble, I left for my house. But on Saturday night, we were attacked by the mob at our house in Rohitvaas,” said Sailesh, reported The Times of India.

Sojitra police have booked five persons along with a mob of around 20 persons under IPC Sections 323 (Assault), 506 (2) (Criminal Intimidation) and under various sections of The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention and Atrocities) Act, 1989. The five accused named in the FIR are Dholabhai Parmar, Vijay Phula Parmar, younger son of Narsinhbhai Parmar, Jaimin Parmar and Kaushik Parmar.

While members of Dalit community complained to the police on Saturday night, an investigation was initiated into the case on Sunday. “It all started on August 11, when the victim brought a dead cow for skinning from a nearby village. Instead of the designated place, he started skinning it in the crematorium. When some locals raised the issue with the sarpanch, he asked the victim to take the cow to the allotted place,” DD Damor, the deputy superintendent of police, Khambhat division was quoted saying, according to The Hindustan Times. He has also added that police have collected names of seven more assailants from the Dalit family and that round the clock security is being provided to the family. No arrests have been made so far.

As per The Indian Express the Superintendent of Police, Anand District, Saurabh Singh said, “We have identified the accused based on the statement of the victim and asked him to appear before the police station for investigation on Wednesday. They will be questioned on Wednesday and arrested.”

The Rohitavaas area houses around 25 Dalit families who professionally skin dead animals, but this area is dominated by the Darbar community who belong to the Kshatriya caste and Dalits are often subjected to assault.

This comes almost a year after the Una incident, where Dalits were attacked by a mob and vehicles were torched. Four men were allegedly beaten by cow vigilantes at Una in the Gir-Somnath district, stirring up a political storm.

The Logical Indian take

In June, a citizens’ movement to protest against mob violence and hate crimes were organised nationwide after the stabbing of a 15-year-old boy Junaid in a Delhi-Mathura bound train. The protest stemmed from months of disappointment and anger piled up in the minds of the citizens who wanted to send the message across– ‘Not In My Name.’ It was held in the hopes that people will be made aware of the crimes and the perpetrators will be staunchly informed that such acts favour no one, but are only executed to satisfy false pride. But the movement had little effect.

The Logical Indian condemns mob violence in any form. In the past one month, we have come across various incidents of “targeted assaults”, often culminating in death.

We need stringent punishments against those who resort to such acts of violence. To uphold the safety of citizens, law and order need to be established. In the meanwhile, people from all strata of life need to be educated and made aware of the evils of discrimination on the basis of caste or creed.

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