Dalit Man Forced To Rub Nose In His Own Spit After He Refused A Temple Donation
The incident took place last week after Tikhiri village head Chameli Ojha went to the home of the Dalit man, identified as Gurucharan Mallick, to collect donations for the temple.
A Dalit man was forced to rub his nose in his spit after allegedly turning down a temple donation request. The man said he didn't have money to donate for installing a deity statue in a temple in Odisha¡¯s Kendrapara district, the police said.
Representative image only
The incident took place last week after Tikhiri village head Chameli Ojha went to the home of the Dalit man, identified as Gurucharan Mallick, to collect donations for the temple.
Unsplash
After Mallick said he had already made his share of donations, the village head abused him and his wife, Rekha.
The police stated that when Mallick said he had already contributed, the village head allegedly abused him and his wife, Rekha.
According to the police complaint, Rekha alleged that the village head had initially decided to boycott her family at a meeting.
Later on, the Sarpanch and other villagers forced Mallick to rub his nose in his spit. ¡°He [Mallick] had to do what the village committee ordered him to do,¡± Rekha said. According to a report in India Today, the victim's son alleged,
¡°To settle personal scores, the sarpanch convened a village meeting and pitted the villagers against our family to ostracise us. To avoid the punishment, my father had to apologize even if we hadn¡¯t done any wrong."
Ojha, however, has denied the allegations.
AFP
Marshaghai police station Inspector in charge PK Kanungo said a case against Ojha and other villagers had been filed under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, as reported by India Today.
Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 342 (wrongful confinement), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insults with the intention that it will likely break public peace), and 506 (criminal intimidation).
¡°We have recorded statements of around 60 villagers,¡± Kanungo said.
Further investigation on the case is underway.
(For more on news, sports, and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.)
