Family of untouchables punished for accidentally touching Brahmin man in India

The curse of untouchability still has deep roots in the country, a truth which can be gauged from the fact, that an entire family of a Dalit was beaten with sticks and kicked just because one of the family members accidentally touched the hands of a Brahmin man.

The incident was reported in the remote village of Kyuri village of Pinhat area on Friday afternoon, when a Valmiki family was engaged in a marriage ceremony.

According to Vineeta, a victim of the incident said, “My younger son Sonu had gone to a sweet shop owned by a Brahmin man named Anil Sharma. While giving the payment for the sweets, Sonu accidently touched the hand of Sharma, on which he got infuriated and thrashed my son.”

“When Sonu returned home with bruises, he narrated the entire event after which I along with a group of women went to the sweet shop to protest against the cruelty on mere touching the hand. Later, Anil along with some few more men came to our house and attacked us with wooden sticks. They didn’t spare even a pregnant woman, who had come to attend the marriage ceremony,” she claimed. “They kicked her womb after which our family members took her to a hospital,” she alleged.

As per sources, in the incident, Rekha the pregnant woman, Sonu and his father Hotilal were injured.

As per block in-charge of the area, Sugreev Singh Chauhan said, “I was attending a meeting with a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Raja Mahendra Aridaman Singh when I got a distress call of Brahmin men attacking a family of Valmiki’s. I immediately rushed to the spot and brought them to MLA.”

When media, contacted Samajwadi Party MLA Raja Mahendra Aridaman Singh, he claimed, “I don’t know exactly what happened among the two communities, but a family of Valmiki said that they were attacked by upper caste people, after that I called local police station in-charge to arrest the culprits and take stringent action against them.” “I was later informed by police, that the accused were arrested,” he added.

Talking to media, station officer of Pinhat Satyendar Singh said, “No one has been arrested in the matter. It was a simple brawl between drunken Valmiki’s who were attending a marriage party. One of the drunk allegedly misbehaved with a Brahmin man after which a scuffle took place.”