Dalit youth brutally beaten, forced to chant ‘Jai Mata Di’

New Delhi: A Dalit youth in his 20s was beaten with sticks and forced to chant ‘Jai Mata Di’ and ‘Jai Shri Ram’ by activists of a right-wing Hindu group.

The incident took place in western Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar and a video recording of the assault started being circulated on social media last Sunday, according to reports.

The victim identified as Vipin Kumar, a shopkeeper in Kelanpur village in Muzaffarnagar, was coming home on his motorcycle when he was “ambushed” by four men from a neighbouring village and brutally beaten him, his family said.

The activists of a right-wing Hindu group forced the Vipin to say ‘Jai Shri Ram’ because he had earlier allegedly replaced portraits of Hindu deities with posters of B.R. Ambedkar outside houses of Dalits in Purkazi area, reported the Times of India.

The video footage shows a man wearing a black helmet lying on the ground, being kicked and and abused by at least three men while a fourth person records the incident on camera. At one point in the clip, the three assaulters also ask him to repeat ‘Jai Mata Di’.

One of the assailants asks another person to record the incident and make it go “viral”while another person tells the youth, “We don’t criticise your Ambedkar, do we? Why did you do it to ours?”

The case under sections 307 (attempt to murder)of IPC and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was registered against accused Rahul, Dhiraj, Jodha and Kaku, who were absconding, said Circle Officer Yogender Singh.

Meanwhile, the Shahid Udham Singh Sena has threatened to launch an agitation in Muzaffarnagar if their demands were not met.

source quint