A 29-year-old man from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community was allegedly beaten to death in Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh district over what the police believe was an affair with wife of one of the accused.
The incident took place on October 7 in Prempura area of Hanumangarh where the accused thrashed Jagdish with sticks until he died. The culprits also shot a video of the entire incident in which they are seen giving water to the victim to drink and then thrashing him repeatedly with sticks.
The FIR stated, the accused followed Meghwal to Suratgarh, in neighbouring Ganganagar district, where he had gone on an errand, and abducted him on his way back. They allegedly beat him to death, according to the complaint.
The accused later dumped Jagdish’s body outside his residence, police said.
Meanwhile, the victim’s family members refused to take the body demanding early arrest of the accused and adequate compensation.
SDM Ranjeet Kumar on Saturday met the victim’s family members and convinced them to cremate the body
“A case has been registered against 11 people. Three people — Mukesh, Om Prakash and Hansraj — have been detained and two teams have been constituted to nab the remaining accused,” Pilibanga SHO Inder Kumar said.
The accused are from Odh Rajput community, who come under the OBC category, the SHO said. “Meghwal’s family has named the woman as one of the accused. Her husband, Mukesh, and other relatives are accused in the case. We have detained three people and investigation is under way,” he said. Both families live in Prempura village, police said.
As the news emerged, opposition BJP slammed the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress state government.
Taking strong note of the incident, Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat hit out at the Congress-led state government for keeping “silence” on the matter.
“Rahul ji, don’t worry about Lakhimpur where Yogi ji has his governance and not your dear Gehlot ji. Show some courage to speak about the murder of dalit youth in Prempura of Rajasthan so that people get to know how truthful you are?” he said in a tweet in Hindi.
BJP state president Satish Poonia tweeted: “The state has now come into the category of top states in terms of atrocities on Dalits. The incident in Pilibanga’s Prempura is reflective of this. Ashok Gehlot ji, stop this drama of being protectors of Dalits in other states. Priyanka Gandhi ji, Rahul Gandhi ji, do come here sometimes as well to wipe the tears of Dalits.”
c. The Indian Express, Hindustan Times
