Lower-caste Indian killed over dancing

AMAN from India’s lowest caste has been killed by a group of higher-caste men for attending a traditional dance performance, police said yesterday.

Jayesh Solanki, 21, and his cousin Prakash were allegedly attacked late on Sunday when they went to watch – a folk dance performed during the nine-day Hindu festival of Navratri.

The alleged attack in the western state of Gujarat is the latest incident of violence against Dalits, who lie at the bottom of India’s deeply entrenched social hierarchy system.

“We have arrested eight persons for allegedly beating to death one Jayesh Solanki in Borsad town of the district,” local police superintendent Anand Saurabh Singh said.

The accused “hurled caste-based abuses” before going away and returning with seven others who began beating the pair, Prakash, who filed the complaint, said.

The group first slapped Prakash and when Jayesh tried to stop the fight, he was shoved aside. “They pushed him so hard that he banged his head on a wall and collapsed,” the complaint added. Jayesh was declared dead at a hospital.

The attackers said Dalits “do not have any right to watch garba”, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Dalits, formerly known as “untouchables”, are among the most marginalised groups in India, where caste discrimination is outlawed but remains widespread.