A 38-year-old Dalit man was lynched to death in Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli district on October 2 on suspicion of being a thief.
Five individuals have been arrested in this regard.
Police said that Hariom had gone to meet his wife, who worked as a sweeper in a bank. However, he reportedly lost his way and entered Ishwardaspur village.
Villagers caught hold of him and started enquiring. As Hariom failed to answer their questions, they started thrashing him.
A video of the gruesome incident has emerged on social media platforms. The Dalit was pinned to the ground, with one of his attacker’s legs on his face, while others beating him black and blue repeatedly. His body turned purple due to the beatings.
Half-conscious, Hariom cried Rahul Gandhi’s name. The attackers poured a liquid on his face and shouted, “Yeh Baba ka raj hai (This is Baba’s kingdom),” apparently referring to UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, also called Bulldozer Baba.
He subsequently died. His body was dumped near the Prayagraj–Lucknow railway line close to the Ishwardaspur halt.
A case has been registered.
The Uttar Pradesh Congress unit posted the video calling out the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government’s ignorance of Dalit atrocities.
“In Yogi Raj, Uttar Pradesh has become synonymous with the cremation ground for Dalits,” read the post.
Rae Bareli is the Assembly constituency of Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav also targeted the Yogi government over the rising number of crimes against Dalits, citing the latest NCRB data.
Sharing a graphic on X, Yadav pointed out that Uttar Pradesh topped the list in crimes against Dalits with 15,130 cases, followed by Rajasthan (8,449) and Madhya Pradesh (8,232). The chart was captioned: “Daliton pe apradh mein UP No. 1(UP no. 1 in crimes against Dalits)”.
“BJP government’s work should not just be seen as biased, the pain and tears it has caused should also be noted. In UP, Dalit oppression is at its peak,” Yadav said in the post in Hindi.
“There should also be a TV show on this statistic; a hoarding highlighting this truth should also be put up, a detailed report on this should also be broadcast and published as news,” he had said.
