In a rather shocking turn of events, a Dalit RTI activist was hacked to death, allegedly by a group of Kshatriya men, in his home in Sanodar village of Ghogha taluka in Bhavnagar district. Amrabhai Boricha, a 50-year-old farmer, had given a complaint, about a month ago, at Ghogha police station against Kshatriyas but the FIR was not filed. Boricha had thus approached the court.
Boricha’s daughter, Nirmala, who was also injured in the attack described the incident to media persons, “First they threw stones on us. As my father rushed inside the house for safety, the assailants broke the gate, barged in and attacked my father with spears, iron pipes and swords, killing him”.
“Around 50 members of Darbars (Kshatriyas) of our village passed by our home playing DJ music when my father and I were standing outside. They returned a while later and started throwing stones on us. We have police protection, yet they managed to barge in with spears, axes, pipes and swords,” she added. Nirmala said that her father was also attacked back in 2013 and he had broken his leg.
Boricha was rushed by his daughter to Sir Takhtasinhji General Hospital in Bhavnagar city.
The incident took place on March 2, around 4.30 PM but Indian Express reported that no FIR was registered until 10.30 PM at least, and their phone calls to PSI Solanki, Bhavnagar SP and Bhavnagar IG went unanswered.
Arvind Makwana, a worker of Navsarjan, an Ahmedabad-based Dalit rights NGO said that Boricha’s was the lone Dalit family in Sanodar village and the Kshatriyas were trying to usurp his agricultural land as well as residential plot, reported IE.
A report by Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative indicates that so far 90 people, who have sought information under Right to Information (RTI) Act have been murdered in the country; 185 have been threatened or harassed and 173 have been assaulted.
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