A Dalit farm labourer was allegedly beaten to death by a landlord and his associates in an Amethi village for demanding unpaid wages of around ₹2,500, the victim’s family said on Sunday.
The victim, 40-year-old Hausila Prasad, had been working on the field of Shubham Singh, an upper-caste landlord, for about a week earlier this month. His wife, Kirti, said Singh and his family had promised to pay him ₹350 per day but refused to clear his dues. “When my husband went to ask for his payment on October 26, they attacked him with rods. When he fell unconscious, they brought him in a jeep and dumped him near our door,” she said.
Prasad suffered severe head injuries and was taken to multiple hospitals before dying at King George Medical University in Lucknow on Sunday.
Police confirmed Shubham Singh’s arrest under charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, but the family has accused authorities of trying to shield the other culprits. “The police have named only one accused, even though everyone in the village knows at least four men were involved,” said Prasad’s relative, Manish Prasad. “When we tried to hold a protest with the body, the police threatened us and forced us to conduct the last rites quickly.”
After a video of the assault went viral, police later arrested four men and upgraded the charge to murder, following widespread outrage.
The killing comes just weeks after another Dalit man was lynched in Rae Bareli on suspicion of theft.
In another incident, Ram Pal, a 65-year-old Dalit man, was allegedly forced to lick his own urine outside a temple in Lucknow’s Kakori area on October 20.
Responding to the rising outrage, Ramchandra Kannaujia, head of the BJP’s Scheduled Caste Morcha in Uttar Pradesh, claimed the government acts swiftly in such cases. “Earlier governments ignored these crimes. We take quick action against the accused to set an example,” he said.
This story was originally published in theobserverpost.com.