Gujarat: Dalit boy thrashed after father refuses to remove cattle carcasses

Ahmedabad: A class 10 Dalit boy in Gujarat’s Bhavda village was on Thursday allegedly beaten up by two men after his father refused to remove cattle carcasses in the village in protest against the July Una incident, police said on Saturday.

According to a report in NDTV, the incident took place on Thursday when the 15-year-old boy was buying chocolates from a shop. Two men, identified as Sahil Thakor and Sarvar Pathan, came up to the boy and allegedly picked up an argument with him. They then allegedly beat him up with a stone.

"They asked me why we have stopped picking up dead animals. I told him that since the community has given a call we have stopped it. They got angry and started hitting me and later attacked me with a stone," the boy said.

According to a report in IANS, the duo picked up a fight with Harsh because his father, Dinesh Parmar, had denied doing his “traditional work” of disposing off carcasses in protest against the flogging of four Dalit boys on July 11 in Una in Saurashtra region.

Dalits in several villages of Gujarat have been protesting against the Una incident, wherein four Dalit youths were beaten up by cow vigilantes on the suspicion of cow slaughter.

"We have decided to boycott the work following the call given by our community and we will continue to do so. But we fear that our families could be attacked further," he said.

Dinesh, 42, has filed an FIR against the two accused and a case under the Prevention of Atrocities (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Act and other provisions of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against the duo, Kanbha police station officer Govindbhai Parmar said.