The Karnataka Police have booked 10 persons after a 14-year-old Dalit boy was beaten up by villagers in Chikkaballapura district on suspicion of theft, The Indian Express reported on Sunday.
The assault took place on September 29 when upper caste members of Kempadenahalli village tied the boy to a pole and thrashed him for allegedly stealing gold jewellery of a woman, reported The News Minute. A video of the incident was also recorded and shared on social media.
The accused persons entered the Dalit boy’s home and dragged him outside. When the boy’s mother questioned the group, they attacked her as well, according to The News Minute.
The Karnataka Police took cognisance of the matter and registered a first information report against the accused persons.
The ten villagers have been booked under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act as well as Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 354 (assault to woman with intent to outrage modesty), 355 (assault to dishonour person), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 448 (punishment for false mark) of the Indian Penal Code, reported The Indian Express.
“We have arrested three among the ten accused and the investigation is ongoing,” Chikkaballapura Superintendent of Police Nagesh DL told The News Minute.
The boy and his mother are receiving medical treatment. “I work as a mason and he is my second son,” his father said. “We did not even know why they were beating him black and blue. They have been admitted to the hospital and we do not know where to go now.”
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