UP youth held for theft, beaten to death by men after revealing he is Dalit

Lucknow: Two shopkeepers in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district were arrested on Wednesday for their alleged involvement in the murder of a 22-year-old Dalit youth, accused of stealing wrist watches from one of their shops. The men allegedly beat the youth to death after finding out his caste.

The incident took place on Tuesday at an annual fair, where the shopkeepers – Pushpendra Singh and Sanjeev Verma – had put up stalls. The Dalit youth, identified as Avaneesh, was accused of stealing from Singh’s shop.

According to a report in the The Indian Express, the FIR stated that the shopkeepers caught Avaneesh, enquired about his caste and thrashed him mercilessly when he said he is a Dalit. The men allegedly hit him on the head with a stick, resulting in profuse bleeding.

They also hit 14-year-old Prasoon, who visited the fair with Avaneesh, when he tried to save the youth. Prasoon was injured in the incident and ran away to save his life.

Other shopkeepers at the fair took Avaneesh to a hospital, where he was declared brought dead. Later, Prasoon filed a complaint with the police and claimed that Avaneesh was not stealing watches.

Police are on the lookout for two other men involved in the incident. The incident took place two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the perpetrators of violence on Dalits to stop the attacks against the minority group.