A year and half after four dalit youths from Una district in Gujarat were flogged by cow vigilantes for skinning a dead cow, over a dozen members of their family have decided to renounce Hinduism and embrace Buddhism.
Four dalit youths were stripped half naked, and flogged in full public view by a mob of cow vigilantes in July 2016 for skinning a dead cow.
Videos of the thrashing had gone viral triggering widespread protests. Thousands of Dalits soon took a pledge not to remove cow carcasses.
Dalit leaders sought freedom from atrocities and discrimination, amid chants of "Jai Bhim" in a rally organised in support of the victims and against the inaction of the state government.
One of the victims, 28 -year-old Vashram Sarvaiya said that a dozen of their family members will now embrace Budhhism on April 14, the birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar. and renounce Hinduism because of prevalent caste discrimination, reported The Times Of India.
"The horror and shame inflicted upon us for doing our ancestral work of skinning dead cattle made us contemplate giving up Hinduism and finally a year and a half later, our family is convinced that we are better off embracing Buddhism which does not discriminate on the basis of caste," the report quoted him as saying.
Upset over the lack of action from the Gujarat government, Vashram said that despite being promised jobs and land by the then CM Anandiben Patel, they have not received any compensation , and now that they have stopped skinning dead animals, there is no alternative means for their 12-member family.
Dalits have reasons to be upset. Atrocities against Dalits, who constitute 7.1 per cent of the state’s population, show no signs of declining. According to figures obtained under the RTI Act, 1,033 cases of rape, arson, murder and other grievous offences were committed against Dalits in 2001. In 2015, the figure stood at 1,052. As many as 1,321 atrocities against Dalits were reported in Gujarat in 2016, according to a submission in the Rajya Sabha on July 26 2017.
The crime rate for atrocities against scheduled castes (SCs) in Gujarat was 32.5% in 2016, above the national average of 20.4%, according to government data. Gujarat's crime rate — case registered per 100,000 population — against Scheduled Castes was fifth highest among 26 states and Union Territories that registered such atrocities. Madhya Pradesh topped the list at 45.1%.
