A 15-year-old Dalit boy was beaten up by two men in Gujarat yesterday because his father had refused to continue with his job of disposing cattle carcasses. The incident, reported by IANS, took place in Bhavda village of Daskroi taluka of Ahmedabad district. Sahil Thakore and Sarvarkhan Pathan, the two accused, are residents of the same village.
Harsh Parmar, a student of Class X, was sitting with his friends in their colony, Vankarvas, when the two men started abusing him. After a heated exchanged with Harsh and his friend, the men thrashed them. Acting on a complaint by Harsh's father, Dinesh Parmar, the police arrested the two men later.
"They asked my son what he was doing there, instead of doing the traditional job of removing carcasses, and started beating him," the victim's father told the Deccan Herald.
Describing the incident as a "minor scuffle", Kanbha police station officer Govindbhai Parmar told IANS that a case has been registered under the Prevention of Atrocities (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Act, besides other provisions of the Indian Penal Code.
"Thakor runs a small gang called Cobra Gang. Although the villagers had already lodged several complaints against Thakor for his high-handed behaviour, little could be done due to the situation prevailing across the state," police sources added.
Since the incident of flogging of several Dalit youths in Una, Dalits in many parts of Gujarat have stopped disposing of cattle carcasses. "Removing carcasses was our traditional work but after the Una incident, I took a pledge to give it up," said Dinesh, "I now depend solely on the daily wages I earn for a living."
Protesting against the atrocities, another Dalit youth had ended his life by consuming poison, making the resolve of the community even stronger. The decision to not pick up cow carcasses was taken not only to express a collective sense of outrage but also to send out a strong message to the government.
The incident has reportedly left Harsh disturbed and he has been sent to his aunt's house in Vastral in Ahmedabad. "My son was traumatised by the incident and he was not ready to stay in the village. So I had to send him to my sister's place," said his father.
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