Palanpur: A Dalit youth was beaten up and forced to shave off his mustache by upper caste people in a Gujarat village.
Ranjit Thakor, a resident of a village near Palanpur, incurred the wrath of the upper caste community by suffixing “Sinh” with his name.
The altered name appeared in invitation cards the 23-year-old printed for a religious ceremony scheduled on June 4.
On May 30, the police arrested one of the two persons Thakor named in the complaint.
Thakor faced the ordeal on May 27 when he went to distribute the cards of his babri (hair removing ceremony) in Gaud village near Palanpur. Around 15 Rajput men noticed that he had used ‘Sinh’ with his name and picked up a fight with him.
The altercation turned serious as they started beating Thakor and took him to a forest area between Dhanda and Bauchargadh (Manka) villages. Here, they forced him to shave off his mustache, police said.
A Y Patel, police sub-inspector, Palanpur Taluka police station, said Thakor has named Mathursinh Dabhi and Harpalsinh Dabhi besides 13 unidentified persons in his complaint. “We arrested Mathursinh and others also will be rounded up soon,” said Patel.
The accused have been booked under various sections of IPC including section 153A for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race etc and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.
The victim’s father Bhikha Thakor said that his son’s name in the school leaving certificate is also written as Ranjitsinh.
Gujarat has reported several attacks on Dalit people by upper caste men in recent years.