By The Wire Staff
New Delhi: A Dalit man was allegedly lynched by villagers in Uttar Pradesh’s Raebareli who accused him of being a thief. Reports say that police discovered his body on October 2 near a railway track in Unchahar village, and sent it for post-mortem. The incident gained attention since a video purportedly showing the man being brutally beaten began making its rounds on social media.
The man has been identified as Hariom Valmiki. Some reports have it that he is in his late thirties.
Hariom was from Tarawati Ka Purwa village in Fatehpur district, say some reports, which also add that he was mentally unwell and when villagers asked him if he was responsible for deploying drones to steal items, he could not respond to the satisfaction of the villagers. The ‘drone’ suspicion allegedly arose from rumours that these were being used for thievery.
Indian Express has reported that police have identified five people through the video and booked them under section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and later, section 103 (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita.
The Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai met the victim’s family and was quoted by PTI as having said that the beating took place in the presence of police. “It’s a poor family. Hariom Valmiki was on his way to meet his wife when he was beaten in the presence of the police. The police could have stopped them,” he said.
“When he took Rahul Gandhi’s name,” Rai added, “the attackers said, ‘Hum bhi Baba ke log hain.’ Such incidents are happening repeatedly. It’s ‘Baba’s jungle raj’ across the state, where his people are killing the poor and Dalits.”
The Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police has said, according to the Indian Express report, that three police personnel, including a sub-inspector, have been suspended for negligence.
The Mooknayak has reported that Unchahar SHO Sanjay Kumar was removed from his post, in addition to three other policemen who were suspended.
The Congress party has released a statement strongly condemning the murder.
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