Bengaluru: After nearly a year long probe into the alleged assault on a young Dalit writer and poet in Davangere on October 24, 2015, the police have come to the conclusion that he was not attacked and filed a closure report. However, the writer, Uchachangi Prasad, has refuted the police findings.
The attack, which happened some months after the assassination of noted rationalist Prof M.M. Kalburgi, had sparked a series of protests all over the state. In his police complaint, Prasad had alleged that he was attacked by a gang of eight to 10 people. He was then a post-graduate student of Journalism in Davangere University.
Prasad had stated that an unidentified man had come to his hostel room and informed that his mother had a heart attack and was hospitalised. "I went with him in his bike as he had assured to take me to the hospital. But he led me to an isolated place, where I was attacked with knives by a group of 8-10 people," he had stated.
The Dalit writer told the police that the assailants had warned him for his
'anti-Hindu' stand and writing against caste system. "They poured kumkum on me and threatened to chop off all my fingers," he had mentioned in his complaint.
The police had registered cases under attempt to murder (IPC 307) and kidnapping, under the various provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
"The incident took place just three months after Kalburgi assassination. At
that time the country was witnessing heated debates over rising intolerance.
This incident has brought shame to the state of Karnataka," recalled a young Kannada writer, who wished to be anonymous.
Charges baseless: Police
But after a year, the Davanagere police have closed the case and sent a closure report to the state government. They have stated that the whole incident was fictitious and Prasad's allegations were baseless.
"Prasad had informed that he had sustained injuries due to the knife attack. But according to the doctor who treated him, the said injuries were not because of a knife attack. While undergoing treatment Prasad had informed the doctor that he got injured due to a fall," said an officer, who was part of the investigation.
"Why did Prasad leave with an unknown person? Why he did not first verify the information about his mother's illness? Why he had he switched off his mobile phone at the time of the incident? These were some of the questions we had raised at the time of the investigation. But he did not give any satisfactory answer," the officer added.
According to the police, after examining the CCTV footage they had concluded that the complaint was false. "We had first asked Prasad to identify the road used by the bike rider. We checked three hours of CCTV footage on that particular date when the attack took place, but not even a single bike was spotted on that road," he informed.
"When we asked Prasad to provide some other substantial proof, so that we
could continue with the investigation, he was not ready to provide any. He
had stated that it was the duty of the police to find the evidence. So we decided to close the case," he said.
Why should I lie: Prasad
The Dalit writer, who is currently a guest lecturer at a government first grade college, told Deccan Chronicle that he is yet to go through the police report. "I don't know what the police report has stated. But I never lied. I was attacked," Prasad said.
He pointed out that Dalits have always been denied justice. "Kambalapalli, Khairlanji incidents are reality. No one was punished and that does not mean these incidents did not happen at all," he said. He said the attackers were not known to him. "Immediately after the attack, some senior officials had spoken to me. But since then nobody spoke to me about the incident," he clarified.
