Ahmedabad: A 21-year-old Dalit man was allegedly beaten to death by a group of men belonging to the upper caste Patel community for attending a garba event in Gujarat’s Anand district in the early hours today, police said. The incident took place around 4 am.
Eight men have been arrested for attacking the 21-year-old on Sunday, police told BBC Gujarati.
Jayesh Solanki, cousin Prakash Solanki and two other Dalit men were sitting near a house adjacent to a temple in Bhadrania village when a person made “derogatory remarks about their caste”, police said quoting a complaint filed in connection with the incident.
The accused said Dalits “do not have any right to watch garba. He made casteist remarks and asked some men to come to the spot”, an officer at the Bhadran police station said. The upper caste men allegedly thrashed the Dalits and banged Jayesh’s head against a wall, the officer said, according to PTI.
The men allegedly flung him against a wall causing him to lose consciousness. But they continued to beat him, according to the complainant. Solanki was taken to hospital but he was pronounced dead on arrival, BBC reported.
Some Dalits were beaten up for sporting moustaches in the state last week. Despite laws to protect them, discrimination remains a daily reality for India's 200 million Dalits.
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