Seven upper caste men allegedly assaulted a 30-year-old Dalit man and chopped off his finger in Gujarat’s Patan district on Sunday, reported Deccan Herald.
According to the first information report, the incident took place after an eight-year-old Dalit boy picked up a cricket ball that the upper caste men were playing with at a school ground. The FIR said that one of the accused men, Kuldeepsinh Rajput, scolded the boy.
When the boy’s uncle Dhiraj Parmar objected to the scolding, the matter turned into a verbal spat but was settled for the time being after residents intervened, reported The Times of India. An official told PTI that the upper caste men made casteist remarks about Parmar, his brother and nephew.
After the fight, Dhiraj Parmar left but his brother, Kirti Parmar, stayed at a tea stall, according to the newspaper. Finding Kirti Parmar alone, the upper caste men attacked him with sticks and swords, finally cutting off his left thumb and leaving him unconscious.
A shopkeeper then called Dhiraj Parmar, who took his brother to a hospital. His condition is said to be stable, reported The Times of India.
Superintendent of Police Vishakha Dabral said two of the seven men have been arrested and teams have been formed to nab the others.
The accused men have been booked on charges of rioting, voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons, criminal intimidation and using abusive words, along with provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
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