A 43- year old Dalit man was attacked by a group of ‘upper caste’ men in Greater Noida for selling biryani in ‘their area’. Lokesh Jatav, who was badly beaten up by the assailants also saw casteist slurs being hurled against him. A video of the incident that took place in Rabapura, 66 km from Delhi was widely shared on social media showed the man standing back to the wall, being slapped by a man shouting abuses and calling him names, demanding he apologize for being there.

#WATCH Greater Noida: A 43-year-old man Lokesh being beaten up by some men, allegedly for selling biryani in Rabupura area. pic.twitter.com/iOfXWuDUiM

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) December 15, 2019

Speaking to The Quint, Lokesh said, “On the evening of December 13, I was about to return home after selling biryani in the nearby Mohammad Khera village. Three men, who own shops in my village in Rabupura, came and enquired about my caste. When I told them I belong to the Jatav community, they started thrashing me and abusing.” He added, “They just wanted to show how they are beating a man from the oppressed caste. They wanted to show their dominance. They asked me to fold my hands and beg for mercy. I belong to an oppressed caste so I had to do it.”

The Quint also reported that the mother of one of the accused said that her son shouldn’t not have beaten up Lokesh and that he was severely reprimanded by his father once he got home. She also mentioned that might have been drunk at the time of the incident.

An FIR against the three men had been registered against under the Scheduled Casts and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Speaking to Sabrang India, Vineet Kumar Singh the Station House Officer at Rabupura Police Station said, “Three men – Brajesh alias Veeram, Shanu and Anand had been arrested at 8:30 PM yesterday and are being sent to jail. The men said that there was a fight between them and Lokesh after which they had hit him, but that is yet to be confirmed. Lokesh has said that he was at his stall selling biryani when they came and asked about his caste and beat him up for being there. The investigation in the matter is still on and we’re in the process of speaking to eyewitnesses.”

All 3 accused in PS Rabupura case in which a Biryani seller was beaten/thrashed with casteist abusive remarks, arrested within 24 hrs. No such criminal/communal activity will be tolerated @dgpup @Uppolice @ANINewsUP @PTI_News @adgzonemeerut @igrangemeerut @CMOfficeUP @UPGovt https://t.co/uCfocFCW69 pic.twitter.com/bRMG3xYAlJ

— SSP NOIDA (@sspnoida) December 15, 2019

UP CM Yogi Adityanath, in keeping with his campaign call ‘Yogi hai toh Yakeen Hai’ also tweeted about the incident saying that there was no place for any communal disharmony in the state and people trying to spew hatred would be duly prosecuted.

नोयडा में बिरयानी विक्रेता से मारपीट करने वाले तीनों आरोपियों को बुलन्दशहर से गिरफ्तार कर लिया गया है।
उ.प्र. में किसी से भी,किसी भी आधार पर,किसी भी प्रकार के भेदभाव के लिए कोई स्थान नहीं है।
व्यवस्था को बिगाड़ने का प्रयास करने वालों के साथ सख्ती बरती जाएगी।#योगी_हैं_तो_यकीन_है

— Yogi Adityanath Office (@myogioffice) December 15, 2019

Lokesh has said that the threats won’t stop him and he would continue to sell biryani, which he insists is vegetarian, saying the business fed him and his family.

It is shocking to see such hate crimes take place in the country. Earlier this year, in Uttarkhand, a group of upper caste Hindus had beaten up a 21-year-old Dalit boy named Jitendra for sitting on a chair and eating in their presence at a wedding. The boy died nine days later.

In UP’s Hardoi district a 20-year-old Dalit man was beaten up in captivity and set ablaze by relatives of an upper caste girl he was in a relationship with for the past six years.

There have been a slew of incidents against Dalits in India. Just last week, Gujarat MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani was suspended from the Assembly for calling out the hypocrisy of the BJP with regards to celebrating Constitution Day and how it believed in the Constitution of India. Mevani mentioned the killing of Dalits in Thanagadh and the abysmal conviction in the matter and in that of the flogging of Dalits in Una. 

In the past three years, 43 percent of all cases of harassment of minorities and Dalits, taken up by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) were registered in Uttar Pradesh, with the state accounting for 869 cases out of the 2,008 cases registered. While cases against minorities dropped from 42 to 19 between 2016 – 17 and 2018 – 19, cases of harassment against Dalits rose saw an increase of nearly 41 percent from 221 cases in 2016 – 17 to 311 in 2018 – 19.

In regards to harassment of Dalits, cases registered by NHRC have seen an increase of 33 per cent in the past three years. In 2016-17, NHRC registered 505 cases. By 2018-19 this figure increased to 672 — nearly two cases every day. This year (till June 15) NHRC has already registered 99 cases where Dalits were harassed.

Dalits and minorities have witnessed harassment in the Hindi belt of India with Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh accounting for 64 percent of the cases. According to Indiaspend, the conviction rate in crimes against the SC / STs was at 26% in 2016 and acquittals of the accused rose to 74% in 2016.

The SC / STs everywhere in India, be it students, the working community, and women in particular, have been at the receiving end of hatred for a very long time now. There have been a lot of campaigns, digital and in the real world to stress that these minorities must get their rightful share in society, but their fight against such atrocious inhumanity seems to be far from over.

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