Image Courtesy: maktoobmedia.com
In another instance of what could be institutionalised caste violence, a 35-year-old Dalit man in Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh was beaten to death, allegedly by police personnel. Gautam was allegedly killed after police raided his house on June 24, 2022. Wife Manju Devi accused the police of targeting husband Gautam due to his caste identity.
The deceased’s family filed an FIR against Merapur police station officer Jagdish Varma, sub-inspector Vishwajeet Arya, constables Sachin, Nikhil, and six unnamed policemen for murder. According to Janjwar, a local news publication that reports on Dalit and tribal issues, officials said the police approached the house to nab illegal liquor traders.
“They took my husband into the fields in front of a temple on the village outskirts and beat my husband to death. I begged the three policemen for my husband’s life but they didn’t leave him until he was dead. He was killed for being Dalit,” said his wife in the complaint as per the publication.
Gautam’s brother Udal stressed that there was no prior complaint or allegation against the now deceased man. Yet, the police barged into their house when he was sleeping in the courtyard. Gautam woke up and tried to stop the police, but was taken away by them.
Based on the complaint of the wife of the deceased, an FIR of murder was registered against four named and 5-6 unidentified policemen of Mirapur PS. Udal, brother of the deceased shared the ordeal of alleged police atrocity with the local media. pic.twitter.com/hx2eXGoCrH
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) June 27, 2022
On finding Gautam’s body, the family and soon villagers protested, and demanded an FIR be filed against the police. The family refused to hand over his body for autopsy. Speaking to local reporters, the family alleged that the police took away the body on June 25 and then forcibly cremated the body.
Worse still, the findings in the report were found to be unclear, as per Janjwar, with doctors’ remarks of scratch marks on the body of the deceased. A panel of three doctors has conducted the post-mortem of the deceased youth. The police also allegedly vandalised four houses of Nanhi, Santosh, Satyaveer and Meena, said villagers.
Once the news was circulated on social media via journalist Piyush Rai’s social media, the incident caused considerable outrage in Dalit circles. Dalit leader Chandrashekhar Azad tweeted about the case in Hindi, saying, “Yogi police went to sieze liquor and left behind a corpse. In Sankisa of Farrukhabad, the police went to sieze liquor and beat Gautam alias Sena Baheliya to death. Unable to stop the oppression of Dalits, Yogi-police is now killing in the name of raiding. Who gave this authority to the police?”
योगी जी की पुलिस शराब पकड़ने गई और शव पकड़ा गई।
फर्रुखाबाद के संकिसा में शराब पकड़ने गई पुलिस ने गौतम उर्फ सेना बहेलिया को पीट पीट कर मार डाला।
दलितों के उत्पीड़न को रोकने में नाकाम योगी जी की पुलिस अब दबिश देने के नाम पर हत्या करने लगी है। पुलिस को ये अधिकार किसने दिया @dgpup pic.twitter.com/LrKbVQvNmb— Chandra Shekhar Aazad (@BhimArmyChief) June 27, 2022
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