Police in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur stated on Monday that a 46-year-old Dalit man was beaten to death while fetching water from a tubewell, news agency PTI reported.
According to his brother Ashok, the accused allegedly shouted casteist remarks at Kishanlal Bheel (46), of Bhomiyaji ki Ghati in Soorsagar, and refused to allow his family members to transport him to a hospital.
The critically injured individual was only taken to the hospital when police arrived, where he died from his injuries, the police stated.
According to police, three persons have been apprehended and charged under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.
SHO of Soorsagar Police Station, Gautam Dotasara, stated that the search for those engaged in the incident is underway, PTI reported.
Bheel’s family and community members organised a protest and refused to conduct his death rites, demanding swift arrest of everyone involved as well as cash compensation and a government position for the next of kin.
“We have been in conversation with the demonstrators so that the postmortem can be done and the body be handed over to the family for the funeral,” the official was quoted as saying by PTI.
According to Ashok, several of the residents, including the three jailed, manage the tubewell erected in the area. They have also installed a pump and do not allow anybody to use it.
“On Sunday night, Kishanlal had gone to the tubewell for water but these people pushed him away and hurled casteist slurs at him,” Ashok claimed, PTI reported.
Soon after he arrived home, other individuals invaded our house and beat up Bheel and his son with rods and sticks, according to Ashok.
The Parliament of India passed the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in 1989 to prevent atrocities and hate crimes against the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. The Act is commonly referred to as the SC/ST Act, the PoA, or simply the ‘Atrocities Act.’
(With Inputs From PTI)