Man held for assaulting Dalit woman: Police

Police said the woman was identified as Shobamma Harijan, and the incident occurred in Rampur village of Koppal district on February 3. The incident came to light after a video of the assault was widely shared on social media on Wednesday, they added.

Karnataka police arrested a man for assaulting a Dalit woman, whose cow allegedly strayed inside his land in Rampura village in Kanakagiri taluk of Koppal district recently, officials said on Thursday.

Karnataka police arrested a man for assaulting a Dalit woman, whose cow allegedly strayed inside his land in Koppal district (Agencies/Representative use)

Police said the woman was identified as Shobamma Harijan, and the incident occurred in Rampur village of Koppal district on February 3. The incident came to light after a video of the assault was widely shared on social media on Wednesday, they added.

According to the police, Shobamma approached Amresh Kumbar’s property to retrieve her cow, which had strayed. As she went to rescue her cow, Kumbar, who was infuriated, tied the woman in front of his house and assaulted her, the police said.

He also beat her up with chappals and made casteist slurs, the police said, adding that after the incident, the woman’s relatives went to Amaresh’s house and talked to him. The family members of the Dalit woman have alleged this is a common practice followed by the accused for many years in the village, the police said.

After the incident went viral on social media platforms, the Kanakagiri police registered against Kumbar under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

“When the woman went to Amaresh’s house to rescue her cow, the accused hit him with his shoe. He abused her with unspoken words and also insulted her community. The video of this incident has gone viral,” a Kanakagiri police officer said.

“Amaresh attacking Shobham has also gone viral. Police have registered a case at Kanakagiri police station. We have registered a case under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act,” the officer added.

Meanwhile, Amaresh has been sent to judicial custody, and the district officials visited the victim’s house and consoled her, police said.

Karnataka has been reporting over 1,000 cases of Dalit atrocities every year. According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), data, 1,325 cases of atrocities against SC/STs were registered in 2018. In 2019 and 2020, these numbers stood at 1,504 and 1,398.

In September 2021, a Dalit family from Miyapur village in Koppal district was fined ₹25,000 after its two-year-old child entered a temple in the village.

The two-year-old child from the Chennadasa community, a Scheduled Castes community, had entered the village temple on September 4, 2021, when he was taken there by his father to offer puja from outside on the occasion of his birthday, police said.

Although he had accidentally entered the temple when it started raining, the upper caste people wanted the money to ‘purify’ the temple. However, the family was forced to leave the village, leaving behind their house and agricultural land, after the humiliation and fear of attack, police added.

In another incident in June 2021, two Dalit men attempted suicide after they were denied a haircut by so-called upper-caste men in the Koppal district. Humiliated and assaulted for asking for a haircut, the two Dalit siblings had consumed pesticides, activists said.