Odisha: 8 arrested for assaulting 2 Dalit men over suspicion of cow smuggling
The two Dalit men were allegedly tonsured, assaulted and forced to crawl on their knees and consume grass and drain water.
Bhubaneswar: The Odisha police arrested eight people on Tuesday in connection with the brutal attack on two Dalit men, accusing them of cattle smuggling, two days ago.
The two Dalit men were allegedly tonsured, assaulted and forced to crawl on their knees and consume grass and drain water.
Police officials in Ganjam said they have identified all the people responsible for the assault of two Dalit men, 59-year-old Babula Nayak, and his cousin brother Bulu Nayak, 54, at the hands of a mob in Jahada of Kharigumma village under Dharakote police station limits on Sunday.
“While the main accused Raja Samal is still evading arrest, we have managed to arrest eight persons who assaulted the Dalit men pretending to be cow vigilantes, made them kneel on ground, move on knees and hands, biting grass, drinking sewage water and tonsured their heads partially. The primary motive was not cow protection or anything like that, but extortion. It seems they were influenced by social media videos and wanted to make quick money,” said Ganjam superintendent of police (SP) Subhendu Patra.
Police said based on the report of the victims, a first information report (FIR) has been registered under sections 296/ 126(2)/ 115(2)/ 303(2)/ 508(2)/ 356(2)/ 3(5) BNS read with 3(1)(r)/ (s)/ 3(2) (va) SC&ST (POA) Act 1989. Incidentally, one of the accused is a Dalit man. Those who were arrested are Sibasankar Mohanty, Satya Sahu, Bainath Bisoyi, Omm Gouda, Ganapati Polei, Santosh Dakua, Sankar Das and Narayan Dakua. All the accused persons were forwarded to a court on Tuesday.
Police said the mob led by Raja Samal demanded ₹30,000 from the duo and when they refused, they were assaulted and humiliated– such as forcing them to crawl on their knees for over a kilometre. A video of the incident went viral on Monday. According to the victims, the cattle were meant as a traditional gift for the wedding of Babula’s daughter.
Following outrage on social media, Odisha Congress president Bhakta Charan Das on Tuesday sent a five-member panel headed by its legislature party leader Rama Chandra Kadam to investigate the matter.
“The incident shows how Dalits are facing the heat in Odisha after the BJP government took charge. The law and order situation has completely deteriorated in Odisha,” alleged Ramchandra Kadam.
In a post on X, opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) said, “People are becoming increasingly restless. The law and order are collapsing in Odisha.”
Ganjam District Dalit Mahasangha president Sangram Nahak, who accompanied the victims to the SP’s office on Tuesday, said the accused in the name of cow vigilantism wee actually extorting money.
