Hyderabad: A 21-year-old Dalit man was thrashed for nearly three hours in Nizamabad’s village for marrying a girl from the dominant Other Backward Caste (OBC).
Though the incident happened on the night of May 31, a case was registered on June 14. So far, nine persons, including a village revenue assistant, have been arrested and remanded into custody.
A year ago, the victim – Karduram Nandu – a daily wage earner eloped and got married to G Ramitha who belonged to the Mudhiraj caste.
Nandu belonged to the Ansanpally village in Indalwai Mandal.
This year, Ramitha visited her family but did not return home. Speaking to The News Minute, Nandu’s cousin Arvind said that the former made many attempts to get in touch with Ramitha but all in vain.
Later, Nandu came to know that his wife was being forcefully married to someone else.
Nandu received threatening warnings from Ramitha’s family not to interrupt the wedding. On May 31, the night of the wedding, Nandu accidentally set fire to a haystack (a large, tall pile of hay in a field) under the influence of alcohol.
The Sarpanch and other Mudhiraj caste members took Nandu to a nearby community hall, tied him up, tonsured his head and thrashed him for nearly three hours.
After finding him in a battered state, Nandu was rushed to a nearby government where he received stitches on his head and legs.
“Though the incident took place on May 31, the details surfaced after the accused in the case were arrested on June 12, following which they were booked under sections 324 (voluntarily causing hurt), and 109 (punishment for abetment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as the relevant sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989,” Nizamabad police commissioner Praveen Kumar was quoted by The News Minute.
“Nine people have been arrested in the case filed at Indalwai police station. While some Dalit rights activists assisting the family alleged that few individuals were yet to be arrested,” the police officer added.
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