Dalit man thrashed, ‘forced to drink urine’ in Fazilka
BATHINDA: An FIR has been registered against three persons for thrashing and allegedly forcing a 22-year-old Dalit man to drink urine at Chak Janisar village in Fazilka last week, police said on Tuesday. The case was registered on Monday night after the victim’s medico-legal report (MLR) was submitted by the Jalalabad civil hospital.
Gurnam Singh of Muktsar’s Chak Madarsa village was allegedly beaten up by Simranjit Singh, Ramandeep Singh and Jagvir Singh on October 8.
His brother Bohar Singh on Tuesday said that Gurnam was coming to meet him at Chak Janisar when he was mistaken for a thief by a group of villagers.
“When I called him, an unknown person answered and said the phone was recovered from a thief. I rushed to the spot and saw a mob surrounding my brother, who was forced to drink urine at a dharamshala. I have identified the culprits,” he added.
Investigating officer Iqbal Singh of Vairo Ke police station said Gurnam was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday. “In a purported video clip, a youth was seen being beaten up by a group of people. The authenticity of the video is being verified. Gurnam stated that the accused were under influence and he was subjected to the atrocity by a group,” he added.
No arrest made so far
The police have so far made no arrests in the case. Denying any delay in registering the FIR, Fazilka SSP Harjeet Singh said the police hadn’t not received any complaint from the victim directly. He said the youth was badly thrashed and there was no evidence to suggest that he was forced to drink urine.
“Two days after the incident, Gurnam was taken to a government hospital in Jalalabad by his family members. The hospital authorities forwarded his MLR to the police as the patient had sustained injuries. The police took cognisance of the official communication from the hospital and contacted the victim and his family for further action,” the SSP said.
The FIR has been registered under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 365 (abduction), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 295-A (malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and various sections of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.