A primary school teacher in Uttarakhand allegedly beheaded a Dalit man for "using a flour mill and making it impure" in the state's Bageshwar district, PTI reported on Friday. Bageshwar Superintendent of Police Sukhbit Singh told the news agency that Lalit Karnatak attacked Sohan Ram on Tuesday, after the 35-year-old protested against an insult made against his caste.
Officials said Singh has been arrested and is being held at the Almora jail. The accused has been charged with murder under the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention Of Atrocities) Act. Ram had reportedly visited the mill to collect his wheat flour order, where the accused insulted his caste and later assaulted him with a sickle.
Villagers told PTI that members of the upper castes communities had passed an order warning Dalit families to use the mill only after the flour, meant for the deities, was prepared and they [upper caste members] had used it.
There has been a spate of incidents of violence against Dalits in the past few months, provoking protests across the country. Dalits all over Gujarat have been protesting for the past few months after four Dalit tanners were flogged on July 11 for skinning the carcass of a cow in Una.
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