40-year-old Dalit beaten to death for ‘stealing’ lentils

BHOPAL: A 40-year-old Dalit man was beaten to death for allegedly stealing 15kg lentils from the agriculture farm of an upper ca ste villager in Gun a district late on Saturday evening.

The victim was identified as Neelam Ahirwar. Police have booked 24 upper ca ste villagers in a case of murder.

According to police, Deenbandhu Sharma, a resident of Mahukhan village of the district, beat up Ne el am Ah ir war on September 16 with 10 others, alleging that Ah ir war had stolen 15 kg lentils from his farm.

Sharma also registered a case against Ah ir war at My ana police station and handed him over to the cops.

Ahirwar was released on bail and a case was registered against S harm a and some other village rs under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act.

“This didn’ t go down well with the upper ca ste community members. A number of people from the upper caste entered Ahirwar’s house with sticks and canes and attacked him and his family members. Ahirwar was injured seriously, while his wife received injuries to her head.

“Ah ir war was rushed to a hospital where he died during treatment ,” said Avinash Singh, superintendent of police, Guna.

Ah ir war’ s son Ch hot us aid village rs belonging to the upper caste community had lodged a fake complaint agains this father and later beaten him to death.

“We are very poor and he was the only bread winner of the family. Now, we are also scared of them because if they can kill my father for lodging a complaint, then they can kill us too,” said Chhotu.

Police have assured protection for the family and promised to arrest the culprits at the earliest.