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Pressured To Withdraw FIR Against Upper Caste Men, Dalits In Meerut Threaten Stir Over Teen's Death

Rohit Kumar is said to have been killed after he reportedly opposed the sexual assault of a minor by upper caste men.
NEW DELHI, INDIA - MAY 20: A protestor carries a giant cut-out of Dr. BR Ambedkar during a protest by the members of dalit and tribal community against atrocities demanding for justice at Parliament Street, on May 20, 2018 in New Delhi, India. (Photo by Sushil Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
NEW DELHI, INDIA - MAY 20: A protestor carries a giant cut-out of Dr. BR Ambedkar during a protest by the members of dalit and tribal community against atrocities demanding for justice at Parliament Street, on May 20, 2018 in New Delhi, India. (Photo by Sushil Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

A week after 19-year-old Rohit Kumar was killed in clashes between Dalits and Thakurs in Uldepur, Meerut, the Dalits have alleged that the upper caste residents have been pressurizing them to withdraw the FIR against them.

The 19-year-old Dalit boy was allegedly killed because he tried to stop a group of reportedly upper caste men from sexually harassing a girl. Several others were injured in the incident that took place a week ago.

The Indian Express reported that members of the Jatav community met for a Dalit mahapanchayat on Monday, presenting a list of demands and warned of a "mahasabha" on August 30 unless their demands were met by August 29.

The Times of India reported that Kumar's family was also under pressure from BJP leaders to withdraw their FIR.

The newspaper quoted Students' Democratic Front president Sushil Gautam as saying, "Residents of several villages here met to decide the future of our protest. We have a set of demands including arrest of all the accused in the murder of Rohit, withdrawal of cases filed on family members and relatives of the victim party, making two licenced guns available to Rohit's family Rs 50 lakh in compensation to the family and a government job one of its members."

It was reported yesterday that four upper caste accused in the case had been arrested and one was still on the run.

However, the report in The Indian Express says that a "Rajput mahasabha" was held on 14 August to build pressure on the police to file FIRs against the Jatav caste. In fact, an FIR was filed on complaint from the wife of one of the accused in the case accusing the Jatav Community of rioting and sexual assault.

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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.