Killed over biscuits

NEW DELHI: A Dalit couple was axed to death by an uppercaste grocery shop owner over non-payment of a 15 rupee (R3) debt for biscuits they bought for their children in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Dalits were previously known as “untouchables” in India and fall at the bottom of India’s caste hierarchy. Earlier this month, four Dalit men believed to be tannery workers were assaulted by vigilantes while they were trying to skin a dead cow in Una town of Gujarat state. The attack triggered protests after a video of these men went viral, showing them stripped, tied to a vehicle and being flogged with iron rods.