In yet another incidence of caste-based violence, two men belonging to the Dalit community were subjected to horrific public humiliation after being accused of goat theft in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district.
The incident took place on December 27 within the Birdi police station jurisdiction.
The incident unfolded when the Dalit men were chased by locals while they were transporting two goats in an auto-rickshaw. The police who arrived at the spot rescued the men from the agitated mob. They were initially arrested on theft charges, sent to judicial custody, and subsequently released on bail, The Indian Express reported.
The viral video clip documents graphics of the casteist violence with the victims being dragged on a road. They were tonsured and degradingly garlanded with slippers.
In a police complaint filed on January 1, the victim’s father said his son, together with his friend were on their way from Simadala village in an autorickshaw when a group of youth stopped them near the Baredia bridge by the side of the panchayat office. The group questioned his son’s name as well as his origin.
“After learning my son’s name, the group hurled caste abuses on him and his friend and accused them of stealing goats,” the father’s complaint read.
He also alleged that the assailants robbed a silver necklace of his son during the assault.
Meanwhile, police registered two first information reports (FIRs) in connection with the incident and booked seven individuals under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989 along with sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
However, the case garnered public attention after Odisha Congress leader Amiya Pandav shared the video of the assault on the X-platform on Saturday morning, January 4.
“Lawlessness is the prime feature of BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] ruled Odisha. See how two Dalit youths were treated in Jagatsinghpur! Human dignity is in danger, shame on the double engine Sarkar [a synonym for the BJP state and central governments],” he wrote on X.
