A low-caste Indian couple were hacked to death by a shopkeeper because of an unpaid loan of 15 rupees (about 22 cents). It is the latest incident of violence against the Dalit community, who occupy the lowest-of-the-low rung in Hinduism’s abstruse caste system.
Police arrested the shopkeeper, an upper-caste man named Ashok Mishra, as well as his wife, Rajni, in connection with the incident that took place Thursday in Lakhnipur, a village in Uttar Pradesh, the northern state that is India’s most populous (with about 200 million people), but also one of its least developed.
Dalit groups protested the killings of the couple identified as Bharat Nat and his wife, Mamta, and news reports said the area is tense following the incident. The couple reportedly had five children, including two married daughters. The three other children—boys aged 11, nine and eight—were said to be in a state of shock.
Here’s more from the Indian Express newspaper:
According to police, the incident took place around 6 am when Bharat and Mamta were walking towards the fields nearby for work. The couple was stopped by Mishra, leading to a heated exchange over the Rs 15 that was pending for three biscuit [cookie] packets the couple had purchased from the shop for their children, police said.
Citing eyewitness accounts, police said that Mishra did not relent even though the couple said that they would pay the money from their daily wages that evening.
A witness to the incident told the Indian Express the couple began walking toward the fields while the shopkeeper continued to shout at them. He ran into his home, the witness said, returned with an axe and killed the couple.
Police said the suspect confessed to the killing and is being charged with murder as well as under the Prevention of Atrocities Act, which covers crimes against Dalits and others who are considered low caste.
Although discrimination based on caste has been unlawful in India for decades, atrocities against Dalits are not new, and have gone unpunished for centuries. But several recent high-profile attacks on members of the community have stunned India. Earlier this month, four Dalit men were beaten up by a cow-protection group while attempting to skin the animal. Hindus view cows as holy and there’s a separate battle around India over cow slaughter.
A low-caste Indian couple were hacked to death by a shopkeeper because of an unpaid loan of 15 rupees (about 22 cents). It is the latest incident of violence against the Dalit community, who occupy the lowest-of-the-low rung in Hinduism’s abstruse caste system.
Dalit groups protested the killings of the couple. The couple reportedly had five children, including two married daughters. The three other children—boys aged 11, nine and eight—were said to be in a state of shock.
Although discrimination based on caste has been unlawful in India for decades, atrocities against Dalits are not new, and have gone unpunished for centuries. But several recent high-profile attacks on members of the community have stunned India. Earlier this month, four Dalit men were beaten up by a cow-protection group while attempting to skin the animal. Hindus view cows as holy and there’s a separate battle around India over cow slaughter.
Dalits are murdered because people in higher castes decide to take the law into their own hands. Dalits do not command much respect, and they are treated as such. Dalits already have a very difficult time making a living wage, and the added civilian terror and violence inflicted upon them must cease. The Atlantic
Link to Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/07/india-dalit-killing/493580/
The National Campaign Against Torture (NCAT) in its “India: Annual Report on Torture 2019” released on the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture stated that a total of 1,731 persons died in custody during 2019 i.e. deaths of about five persons daily. These included 1,606 deaths in judicial custody and 125 deaths in police custody.
Torture is perpetrated to extract confession or bribes and torture methods used in 2019 included hammering iron nails in the body (Bihar), applying roller on legs and burning (Jammu & Kashmir), ‘falanga’ wherein the soles of the feet are beaten (Kerala), stretching legs apart in opposite side (Kerala), hitting in private parts (Haryana), electric shock (Punjab and Uttar Pradesh), pouring petrol in private parts (Uttar Pradesh), applying chilly power in private parts (Kerala) beating while being hand-cuffed (Kerala), pricking needle into body (3-Year-old minor in Tamil Nadu), branding with hot iron rod (3-Year-old minor in Tamil Nadu), beating after stripping (Haryana and Assam), urinating in mouth (Uttar Pradesh), inserting hard blunt object into anus (Bihar), beating after hanging upside down with hands and legs tied (Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh), forcing to perform oral sex (Gujarat), pressing finger nails with pliers (Assam), beating with iron rods after victim is suspended between two tables with both hands and legs tied (Madhya Pradesh), forced to do Murga pose or stress position (Haryana), and kicking in belly of pregnant woman (Assam).
Indian police officers in the town of Nagina chased a group of Muslim teenagers into an empty house. They grabbed them and took them to a makeshift jail. And then, the boys and community leaders said, the officers tortured them.
Four of the boys, who ranged in age from 13 to 17, said that police officers used wooden canes to beat them and threatened to kill them.
Indian Police officers over the course of 30 hours terrorized them.
According to two of the boys, the officers laughed during beatings, saying, “You will die in this prison.”
More accounts are emerging of abuse meted out by police officers.
Almost all the violence has been directed toward Muslim residents. More people — at least 19 — have been killed!
Witnesses said that police officers opened fire on demonstrators with live ammunition, broke into houses and stole money, and threatened to rape women.
Police officers were encouraged by their superiors to kill protesters.
The Indian police have become a lynch mob! Inidan police officers having been given the green light by senior officials to use harsh measures against Muslims.
A 20-year-old Dalit man was allegedly burnt alive over his relationship with a woman from another caste, the killing causing his mother to die of shock.
The victim was beaten up, kept hostage in a house and set ablaze.
Locals rushed to the spot on hearing his cries and took him to a local hospital. He was referred to a Lucknow hospital but succumbed to injuries on the way.
India : Hyderabad : Andhra Pradesh Telangana2018-09-20
A father attacked his 20-year-old daughter and her newlywed husband in the heart of the city on Wednesday, chopping off her left forearm and slashing her jaw. The incident comes days after a Dalit youth was mercilessly murdered in front his pregnant wife in Nalgonda district.
Police said the father was upset over the inter-caste marriage — the woman an OBC (Other Backward Class), her husband, B Sandeep (22), a Dalit. Sandeep and Madhavi Chary, in a relationship for five years, secretly got married on September 12, despite stiff opposition from her father.
Madhavi was left with a 12-inch gash on her neck and jawline and her left forearm barely hung by the skin. She was in a 10-hour surgery at the time of going to print. Sandeep, in another hospital, received 10 stitches to close the deep wound at the angle of his mouth; the attending doctors said he was in deep shock.
