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Delivery boy assault follow-up: Lucknow man accused of assault, casteist slur denies charges
However, the accused confirmed having a confrontation with the delivery boy and that the delivery boy got manhandled
A man accused of casting a casteist slur and assaulting an online food delivery boy, has denied charges of spitting and hurling abuses related to his (the delivery boy’s) caste.
Additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP), Lucknow East, SM Qasim Abidi, said that the key accused in the case, Ajay Singh, turned up before the police and got his statement recorded on Tuesday. He said the accused denied the delivery boy’s allegations of making casteist remarks or spitting on him.
According to the ADCP, the accused said that it was the delivery boy who misbehaved with his domestic help when she went to collect food from him at the doorstep. According to the accused, the delivery boy insisted on delivering the food only to Ajay Singh, as he was the person who had ordered the food, and got into an unnecessary confrontation.
The accused told the ADCP that his younger brother, Abhay Singh, returned home at the same time when the delivery boy was arguing with them. He said Abhay spat the Pan Masala he was chewing so that he could intervene and resolve the issue. By mistake, he spat on the vehicle of the delivery boy parked there. The delivery boy then entered into a confrontation with Abhay Singh and threatened to get him framed in a case of atrocities against a scheduled caste person, the accused alleged.
The ADCP said the accused, however, confirmed having a confrontation with the delivery boy and the delivery boy getting manhandled. He said the police will investigate the version of the accused before initiating any action in the FIR.
The delivery boy, Vineet Kumar Rawat, had lodged an FIR against Ajay Singh and 10-12 unidentified people for assaulting him after asking him about his caste under the Ashiana police station limits in Lucknow. He said the alleged incident took place when the victim went to deliver food at a house in Sector H, Ashiana, on Saturday night (June 18).
The police had lodged the FIR on the complaint of the delivery boy and the accused people were booked under Indian Penal Code sections 323 for causing voluntary hurt, 506 for criminal intimidation, and 147 and 148 for causing nuisance and rioting as well as the charge of atrocities against a Dalit person under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The complainant told the police that the accused persons said that they would not accept food touched by a Dalit. He said the man spat on his face while threatening him.
