Beating Of Dalit Man In Sonabhadra 'Shameful', Book Guilty In NSA, Says Congress' P L Punia

Uttar Pradesh Congress leader P L Punia on Tuesday termed the incident in which a Dalit man was allegedly beaten up by a man and forced to lick slippers in Sonbhadra district "extremely shameful" and demanded the guilty be booked under the NSA and the Gangster Act.  
    
 "The incident which took place in Sonbhadra district is extremely shameful and shows his 'Manuvaadi' mindset. The matter assumes more seriousness as it was committed by a government employee," Punia told PTI.  
     
Punia, a former chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, said the main accused should be booked under the National Security Act and the Gangster Act and urged Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to intervene in the matter. "The CM makes tall claims of using the bulldozer. This is a heinous crime and action should be initiated in this regard."  
     
He said that the family of the Dalit man should also get financial assistance.  
     
The matter came to light after a video turned up on social media showing one Tejbali Singh Patel, a contractual employee of the electricity department, thrashing a Dalit man. Patel has been terminated from the service, police had earlier said.  
     
Four men in all were arrested Sunday evening in connection with the incident, they said.
     
In his complaint to the police on July 8, Rajendra Chamar, a Dalit, said he was trying to check a power supply fault at a relative's house when Patel started berating him and went on to thrash him.  
     
"On July 6, he had gone to his maternal uncle's place where after a power cut he was trying to locate the fault, when the contractual employee of the power department, Tejbali Singh Patel, started hurling abuses at him. He hurled casteist words at the complainant and also made him lick his chappal," a police officer had said on Sunday.