Dalit boy beaten up in Gujarat after his father refused to remove carcass

A 15-year-old Dalit boy was allegedly beaten up by two men in Bhavda village of Daskroi taluka in Ahmedabad district ostensibly because his father refused to dispose off cattle carcasses in the village, police said on Saturday.

A 15-year-old Dalit boy was allegedly beaten up by two men in Bhavda village of Daskroi taluka in Ahmedabad district ostensibly because his father refused to dispose off cattle carcasses in the village, police said on Saturday.

In protest against the thrashing of Dalits in Una, the community has pledged not to remove cow carcasses from the streets, which was traditionally their profession.(Siddharaj Solanki/ HT File Photo)

Two persons were arrested after the boy’s father, Dinesh Parmar, lodged an FIR against them. Kanbha police station officer Govindbhai Parmar told IANS that a case has been registered under the Prevention of Atrocities (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Act, besides other provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

Complainant Dinesh Parmar told the police that his son Harsh, a Class 10 student, was sitting with a friend in their colony Vankarvas when the two accused - Sahil Thakore and Sarvarkhan Pathan - from the same village went there late on Thursday evening.

They started abusing Harsh because his father had refused to remove the carcasses in response to a call by Dalit organisations protesting the July 11 flogging of four youths in Una in Saurashtra.

Dalits in many villages in Gujarat have stopped cleaning up cattle carcasses after the Una incident as part of a pledge to do so. “Removing carcasses was our traditional work but after the Una incident, I took a pledge to give it up. I now depend solely on the daily wages I earn for a living,” said Dinesh Parmar.

PSO Govindbhai Parmar said the two accused persons had an argument with Harsh and his friend, following which they thrashed him. “It was a minor scuffle, but we still took Harsh to the hospital for a first-aid check,” he said.

The incident left Harsh traumatised and he was sent to his aunt’s house in Vastral area in Ahmedabad. “My son was traumatised by the incident and he was not ready to stay in the village. So I had to send him to my sister’s place,” said Dinesh Parmar.