Three people were booked in Gujarat’s Vodadara after they allegedly slapped a Dalit woman and threatened to evict her from her house following an altercation with her son.
Congress leader Jignesh Mevani threatened to stage a protest if the police did not register an FIR based on the woman's complaint. The accused were subsequently booked.
Three people were booked in Gujarat’s Vodadara after they allegedly slapped a Dalit woman and threatened to evict her from her house following an altercation with her son.
According to the police complaint lodged by Jaya Parmar, as reported by The Indian Express, Jay Patel alias Donny, Jana Patel and a third unidentified person threatened her at her home in Ranoli village on Friday.
The complainant reportedly said that Donny slapped her, hurled casteist slurs and threatened to abduct her if her son, whom they were looking for, was not found. He also threatened to throw her out of the house if they don’t leave by will, the FIR stated.
The complainant then met Congress leader Jignesh Mevani during an outreach programme, the report said, during which she told him that the police had refused to register an FIR. Hearing this, Mevani announced that he would sit in protest at the Police Bhavan in the city but he called it off after Jawaharnagar police station registered a case. The Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) Cell of the Vadodara city police will be investigating the matter now.
Prior to the incident, too, Mevani has been actively engaged in fighting atrocities against Dalits.
In a recent tweet, the Vadgam MLA condemned the attack on Dalits in Gujarat by upper-caste men. “A few days ago, a Dalit youth's thumb was chopped off by casteist goons in Gujarat's Patan and now in Mahisagar district, a youth who had gone to eat dal-baati was beaten up so much that he died due to liver rupture. These stories clearly show that people in Gujarat have no fear of law and the condition of Dalits is getting worse,” he said in Hindi.
There have been several cases of Dalit atrocities in the past few months in Gujarat. On Saturday, a Dalit man died in Gujarat’s Mahisagar district after allegedly being beaten up by an upper-caste hotel manager and his accomplice due to an argument over a food order.