In a horrifying incident, goons in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur allegedly carved a trishul on the face of a man and verbally abused him with the slur “ch**ar”, only because he accidentally broke a glass of alcohol on Holi.

On March 18, 2022, Kanshiram colony resident Aadesh received a call from one Vishal Rana, requesting him to clean glasses at his house where some people were having drinks. While cleaning the utensils, Aadesh accidentally kicked a filled glass of alcohol which sparked the entire ordeal.

In a video shared by journalist Piyush Rai the survivor said, “A boy called Tinku punched my eye. When I protested, 3-4 people grabbed me. Some choked me, called me “ch**ar” and said they will teach me a lesson I will never forget.”

Aadesh went on to describe how he resisted the acid attack but failed. He claimed the assaulters even threatened to pour the chemical in his eyes. Describing the accused as thugs, Aadesh said he fears attack from the people, especially since people regularly threaten his family. Regarding the thugs, he said that he knew the two aforementioned people to be living in Meerut but could not name the others.

The incident sparked considerable ire from the community and the Opposition party Samajwadi Party (SP).

#HindutvaTerrorism A Dalit youth Adesh was assaulted by some upper caste Hindu hooligans in the kanshiram colony Saharanpur UP, where the caste Hindu men urinated on him and made a trident (Trishul) with acid on his face......#DalitLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/YpnPTp1TQ8

— The Dalit Voice (@ambedkariteIND) March 24, 2022

उत्तर प्रदेश में दलितों के ऊपर उत्पीड़न क्यों हो रहा है।
ताजा खबर सहारनपुर की जंहा कांशीराम कॉलोनी में रहे रहे दलित के चेहरे पर तेजाब डाला गया है होली पर।
ओर कप्तान साहब को जांच अधिकारी गुमराह कर रहे हैं।@Uppolice @saharanpurpol @dgpup @Mayawati pic.twitter.com/iUXEhGBZdk

— Rajneesh ujala (@Rajnees56373580) March 23, 2022

योगी जी के स्वजातीय लोगों का तांडव सामने आने लगा है ,

दलित के साथ हुआ ये शर्मनाक बर्ताव हाथरस की घटना को याद दिला रहा है ,

इस तरह से दलित का शोषण और उत्पीड़न व अत्याचार सदियों से हो रहे अन्याय की पुनरावृत्ति और सामंती मानसिकता की वापसी है ,

इस घटना की जितनी निंदा की जाए कम है! pic.twitter.com/vM7bjih9jX

— SamajwadiPartyMedia (@MediaCellSP) March 23, 2022

While Aadesh said the police refused to register his complaint, the district police looked into the matter following media attention. On March 24, SSP Akash Tomar spoke to local media and stated that violence was a result of a disagreement between friends.

Tomar said Aadesh was drinking with his friends, to whom he owed ₹10,000. The police said that the accusations were an attempt to avoid this debt. As for the visible scars on Aadesh’s disfigured face, the official said it was a reaction to Holi colours and not acid.

“We did a medical (test) of all three persons and found no presence of acid in any of them,” said Tomar in the video.

➡️सहारनपुर में दलित व्यक्ति के माथे पर एसिड से त्रिशूल बनाने की घटना के सम्बंध मे डॉक्टरी परीक्षण कराये जाने पर एसिड का होना नहीं पाया गया तथा प्रकरण में विवाद पैसो के लेन-देन का पाया गया है। प्रकरण के संबंध में की जा रही कार्यवाही के सम्बंध मे SSP सहारनपुर द्वारा दी गई बाइट !! https://t.co/smjF32xZKK pic.twitter.com/s6g7KEjkZH

— Saharanpur Police (@saharanpurpol) March 23, 2022

Although Holi colours are known to cause skin infections and hives due to chemicals, there’s no evidence of the synthetic colours lightly bleaching the skin as can be seen in the video zooming in on Aadesh’s face.

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