Dalit man murdered for ‘stealing water pump’ in Haryana

Hisar: A 38-year-old Dalit man was murdered on December 14 for allegedly stealing an electric water pump. The family of the deceased has refused to cremate the body.

The deceased identified as Vinod was a daily wage labourer, was beaten to death by a group of villagers while two of his cousins were injured in the incident which occurred at the Mirkan village of Hisar district.

The family alleged that Vinod and his cousins were attacked by a group of upper-caste villagers, who took them to their fields on some other pretext. They further said that the men thrashed the victim over the suspicion that he had stolen the water pump.

According to a report by the Indian Express, the police said, “Vinod’d Family is seeking Rs 50 lakh as compensation, a government job for his wife, arrest of all 17 accused in the matter, Rs 25 lakh compensation for each of the injured in the incident, and a government job to the injured on “DC rate””

It is to be noted that the man’s family and a few locals had refused to cremate the body, which led to the district administration officials persuading the family.

Speaking of the incident one of the officials said, “The process has been initiated to release Rs 4.5 lakh of the compensation amount to the family of the deceased. But it could not be released immediately in the absence of the family’s bank account. Now, a bank account will be opened on Monday to release the compensation amount. Moreover, Rs 1 lakh for each of the injured will also be given.”