Dalit man in Gujarat gets beaten up for wearing ‘good clothes and sunglasses’
An FIR was lodged against seven people in connection with the incident under several sections of IPC
A 21-year old Dalit man was assaulted by a group of upper caste men for wearing sunglasses and good clothes. The incident took place at Mota village in Palanpur. The accused were reported to be from the upper caste Rajput community.
The FIR was lodged based on a police complaint filed by the Dalit man, Jigarbhai Kanubhai Shekhaliya.
On Tuesday morning, Jigarbhai and his brother Bhupatbhai were sitting outside there house when suddenly they heard abusive casteist comments by Dhursinh, one of the accused men.
Jigarbhai left for work, and so did Bhupatbhai. According to the FIR later that day, six of the accused men Bharatsinh, Sureshsinh, Jaydipsinh, Bhagvansinh, Jagatsinh and Pradipsinh approached Jigarbhai on his way home from work and assaulted him with sticks.
Jigarbhai’s friend called up Bhupatbhai at that time. As soon as Bhupatbhai and his mother Sitaben came to rescue Jigarbhai, they were assaulted by the upper caste Rajput men according to the FIR.
Jigarbhai’s relatives soon arrived at the spot incident, and the accused fled, the FIR added.
According to the FIR, the accused had told Jigarbhai that they did not like him dressing up and wearing sunglasses, which ultimately led to the assault.
Gadh police Inspector S B Rajgor said that none of the seven accused have been arrested so far. The accused have been booked under sections 143, 149 (unlawful assembly), 147, 148 (rioting), 354 (outraging modesty of woman), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 294 (b) (obscene utterances) and 506 (2) of IPC.
