Dalit man ‘beaten, forced to drink urine’ in UP, 4 held

LUCKNOW: Four brothers accused of beating a Dalit man in Hazratpur of Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun district and allegedly forcing him to drink urine after he refused to harvest their wheat crop late last month, were arrested from their village early Tuesday, police said.

“The accused Vijay Singh and his three brothers were arrested in a raid in Hazratpur area. They are being interrogated by a police team and will later be presented in court,” superintendent of police (city) of Badaun, Jitendra Kumar Srivastav said.

Police had registered an FIR under sections 323 (Voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) 506 (criminal intimidation) 342 (wrongful confinement) and relevant sections of the SC/ST Act.

The Uttar Pradesh SC/ST commission has also taken cognisance of the matter and sought a detailed report from Badaun police regarding the incident.

On Monday, SSP Badaun, Ashok Kumar, ordered the suspension of inspector Rajesh Kumar of Hazratpur police station for dereliction of duty and ordered a departmental inquiry against him for allegedly refusing to register the victim’s complaint on April 23, the day of the incident.

The complaint was eventually registered on Sunday.