A 14-year-old Dalit girl was tied to a tree and allegedly beaten by a shopkeeper on accusation of theft and reportedly dragged her through the village by her hair in Uttar Pradesh’s Deoria district.
The incident is reported to have occurred on the 31st under the Tarkulwa Police Station limits falling under Misrauli village. However, it came to light after the video of it went viral on the internet. Following the incident, the shopkeeper, Harikesh Gupta, was arrested.
Harikesh Gupta has been arrested under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) Act.
The video of the incident shows that Gupta tied the victim to a tree with the help of a rope and assaulted her over suspicion of stealing goods from his shop in the presence of villagers surrendering the girl.
Additionally, she was subjected to casteist slurs and her family further claimed that Gupta humiliated the minor by dragging her by her hair around the village and then subsequently tied her to the neem tree outside his house.
Meanwhile, amidst the assault and humiliation, one of the onlookers recorded the incident and shared the visuals online, triggering major backlash and outrage.
The Deoria Police, however, got cognizance of the incident following an emergency call on the helpline 112, after which the officers reached the site and rescued the minor.
Circle Officer Sunil Kumar Reddy also confirmed the incident in a video statement.
“The Tarkulwa Police Station in Deoria district received information via 112 that a shopkeeper in the village of Chakjagbandhan, also known as Mishrauli, forcibly interrogated a girl regarding a shop theft,” Reddy said.
“The accused has been taken into custody. Based on the application received in this regard, a case has been registered under relevant sections, and further legal action is being taken as per the rules,” he added.
The incident gained reaction from the activist, creating outrage over social media.
“If the accused is from an upper caste community and the victim is Dalit, it is not even considered a crime in this country,” Ravi Parmar, a social activist, posted on X.
“Don’t oppress Dalits so much that the humanity of you Manuvadi parasitic leeches dies of shame,” the post read.
“India is turning into a graveyard for Dalits; Dalit people are still forced to live the lives of slaves in free India; beating and killing Dalits has become commonplace,” it said.
“Is there any government, judiciary, law and order, child rights commission, or human rights commission for Dalits in this country, or are all institutions only for the upper castes?” another activist, Suraj Kumar Bauddh, questioned.
