Gujarat: Dalit man thrashed for calling OBC shop owner's son 'beta' dies; kin refuse to claim body
Amreli, May 23 (PTI): A 20-year-old Dalit man who was thrashed on May 16 in Gujarat's Amreli district over a trivial issue along with three others by a mob has died while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Bhavnagar, a police official said on Friday.
Nilesh Rathod died on Thursday night, and the nine held after registration of FIR on the day of the incident will now face murder charges, informed Deputy Superintendent of Police Nayna Goradia.
The youth was reportedly thrashed by 13 persons after he addressed a shop owner's son as "beta" (son) while buying wafers.
Dalit leader and Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani, following Rathod's death, met the latter's family and announced they will not claim the body till certain demands are met, including a government job or four acres of land to each of the four victims as well as arrest of all those involved.
"The accused must be booked under Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime Act and a public prosecutor of the family's choice must be appointed. If our demands are not met, the family will not claim Rathod's body," said Mevani.
Deputy SP Goradia said the district administration was trying to convince the family to claim's Rathod's body.
"Of the 13 accused, we have arrested nine. Efforts are on to nab the remaining four. While Rathod succumbed to injuries, the other three who were thrashed are out of danger," Goradia said.
The incident took place on May 16 when Dalit youths Lalji Chauhan, Bhavesh Rathod, Suresh Vala and Nilesh Rathod proceeded to buy wafers from a shop before having lunch at an eatery along Savarkundla road in Amreli town.
The wafers shop owner Chotha Bharwad got angry when Nilesh addressed his teenage son as "beta" and hurled casteist abuses on finding out that the latter was a Dalit, as per the FIR. The main accused belongs to the Other Backward Classes.
When three others went to the shop to understand what happened, Bharwad and one Vijay Tota started thrashing them and also called around 9-10 others at the spot. These men, armed with sticks and axes, started hitting these youths in an indiscriminate manner and forced them to run for cover in the fields. They stopped only after an elderly man intervened.
Based on a complaint given by Lalji Chauhan, who was admitted to a hospital in Amreli, police lodged an FIR and arrested nine men, including Bharwad, on charges of assault, rioting and unlawful assembly. Now, they will face murder charges, police said.
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Russian strike hits Ukrainian prison, killing at least 17
Kyiv (AP): A Russian airstrike on a prison in Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhzhia region killed at least 17 inmates and wounded more than 80 others, Ukrainian officials said Tuesday.
The attack late Monday hit the Bilenkivska Correctional Colony with four guided aerial bombs, according to the State Criminal Executive Service of Ukraine.
At least 42 inmates were hospitalized with serious injuries, while another 40 people, including one staff member, sustained various injuries.
The strike destroyed the prison's dining hall, damaged administrative and quarantine buildings, but the perimeter fence held and no escapes were reported, authorities said.
Ukrainian officials condemned the attack, saying that targeting civilian infrastructure, such as prisons, is a war crime under international conventions.
