Dalit man brutally assaulted by upper caste cattleherds

Agra: In yet another grim reminder of caste wars in UP, a Dalit man was mercilessly thrashed with sticks by upper caste men just because he tried to save his herd of goats from buffaloes owned by the former.
Identified as Rajender Valmiki (35), the victim was beaten and even stoned until he passed out. The incident took place on Monday afternoon in Vidholi village in Kheragarh 30 km off Agra city.
The victim, Rajender, who was too scared to spell out the details of the atrocity, said, “I had taken my herd of 25 goats for grazing when half a dozen buffaloes owned by upper caste men suddenly charged at my goats which were drinking water from the canal. When I tried to keep the buffaloes away from the herd of goat, the four men attacked me, abusing me verbally and making casteist remarks.”
“Out of the four men, two were aged over 50, and asked their sons to beat me up with sticks until the skin peels off my back. I was treated worse than an animal,” he said.
After the incident, the victim went to police station Kheragarh to file an FIR against the four men and to be referred to government hospital for medical examination, but instead of helping the victim, the police did not entertain his complaint and claimed Rajender was lying.
Speaking to TOI, sub-inspector Arvind Kumar Yadav, who has been given temporary charge of the station in the absence of station officer Lekhraj Singh, said, “Rajender is lying, no such incident took place.”
But when TOI questioned Yadav, about the severe lashes on Rajender’s body, the officer declined to comment and said, “I’m now going to meet Rajender and find out the truth.”
This is not the first incident of oppression and exploitation of Dalits in Agra and its neighbouring districts. On Sunday, in an unseemly display of caste prejudice, upper caste men refused to allow public land to be used for the cremation of slain CRPFconstable Vir Singh at his village, Nagla Kewal in Shikohabad, Firozabad district.
On May 11, a Dalit family was beaten up for accidentally touching the hands of a Brahmin man in the remote village of Kyuri village of Pinhat area in Agra.
On May 13, a 10-year-old Dalit boy was sodomised by a teenager in Agra. Also, a 14-year-old Dalit boy was reportedly sodomized by a gang of five boys of the same community in Dhanouli village in Malpura on April 9.
On June 16, a 12-year-old Dalit boy was electrocuted by upper caste men for plucking corn. On June 18, cattle smugglers ran over a Dalit man who tried to stop them from taking away his cattle in Firozabad.

Source: The Times of India