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Teacher Kills Dalit Man For 'Touching The Flour And Rendering It Impure'

Dalits were told not to use the mill until the flour had been prepared and offered to the deities during the Navratri festival.
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Lalit Karnatak, a government teacher in Uttarakhand, plunged a blade into the throat of Sohan Ram, a Dalit man, after accusing him of "defiling" the flour in a mill, The Times of India reported today. Ram fell to the floor of the mill and died on the spot.

Following a verbal spat between Karnatak and Ram, the teacher ran a blade through the Dalit man's throat inside the flour mill which is located in the Bageshwar district of the Kumaon hills region. Karnatak, his father, and brother have been booked for murder as well charged under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

In a shocking recollection of the events, Kundan Singh Bhandari, the mill owner, told TOI that 35-year-old Karnatak had hurled abuses at Ram, accusing him of "touching the flour and thereby rendering it impure." Keshav Ram, the victim's uncle, told TOI that Dalits were told not to use the mill festival until the flour had been prepared and offered to the deities during the Navratri season.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.