PM Modi spends Diwali with troops in Kachchh, Gujarat
PM Modi also extended Diwali greetings to the people earlier today.
Just a few days after a Dalit man’s thumb was chopped off in north Gujarat, a Dalit autorickshaw driver was beaten to death by upper-caste hoteliers in central Gujarat.
Raju Vankar succumbed to his injuries at a government hospital in Vadodara on Friday night after being beaten up on Wednesday by upper caste men at a hotel in Mahisagar district.
The 41-year-old Dalit had finished his dinner at a roadside eatery on Wednesday night and then asked for another meal to be packed. When he pointed out that the packed dinner is of less quantity than the amount paid, the hotel owner started hurling casteist slurs against him.
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The hotelier and his associate then beat him up severely but the autorickshaw driver managed to reach his home. Later on, he complained of acute pain in the stomach following which he was rushed to a hospital in Vadodara where he succumbed to his injuries on Friday night.
Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani has threatened to launch an agitation if the ‘casteist goons’ are not arrested immediately.
Complaints have been registered against the hotelier and his associate under Sections of the Scheduled Caste & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act) and charges of murder.
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