Cops ‘beat’ Dalit to death for applying Holi colours on upper caste in Jharkhand

The family of victim Pradeep Choudhary said that the deceased, along with other villagers, had sprinkled abir (coloured powder) on a local chowkidar Rajendra Yadav as a gesture of goodwill on Holi

A 52-year old Dalit man was allegedly beaten to death by the police for throwing coloured powder on an upper caste on Holi in Jharkhand’ Koderma district , the victim’s widow said.

A Dalit man was allegedly beaten up by cops for throwing Holi colours on a chowkidar hailing from an upper caste community. The victim succumbed to his injuries on his way to the hospital.(AFP File Photo/ Representative image)

The family of victim Pradeep Choudhary said that the deceased, along with other villagers, had sprinkled abir (coloured powder) on a local chowkidar Rajendra Yadav as a gesture of goodwill on Holi.

However, Yadav took exception to the action and called upon police to teach the group a lesson. “The police started beating up Pradeep till he fell unconscious. They then took him to the police station,” Pradeep’s widow Jashwa Devi said.

Jashwa claimed that she along with her brother rushed to the Satbarwa police station but the officials did not allow them to see Pradeep and instead abused them over their caste.

Jashwa said police eventually dropped Pradeep home the next morning.

“His body bore many bruises. We took him to Koderma Sadar hospital from where he was referred to Ranchi but he succumbed to his injuries ,” Jashwa alleged.