Upper caste vigilantes have struck again in Gujarat. While the thumb of a Dalit man was cut off simply because his nephew had picked up a cricket ball, two youths from Nagaland were attacked for selling non-vegetarian food highlighting the intolerance prevalent in society.

The incident of chopping off the thumb of the Dalit in the Patan district of the state came barely four days after another Dalit youth and his mother were bashed up in the Banaskantha district for wearing good clothes and sunglasses.

According to reports, in Kakoshi village of the Patan district, the Dalit man’s thumb was chopped off by upper caste men following a scuffle over his nephew picking up a cricket ball when they were playing on a school ground.

The upper caste men took offence to the Dalit youth picking up their cricket ball leading to a minor scuffle that was settled with the intervention of his uncle Kirti Parmar. However, later in the evening, a group of people arrived with sticks and swords at a tea stall where Kirti was standing. His thumb was cut off in the attack.

Kirti Parmar has been shifted to a hospital in Ahmedabad after the incident while two of the assailants were arrested and others are absconding.

The highlight of the incident is that an act as trivial as touching of a cricket ball can be treated as an offence for which a Dalit will be punished. This is the latest addition to the long list of atrocities against Dalits that includes horse ride, wearing good clothes, riding motorbike, twirling mustache and such actions.

In another incident that took place In Ahmedabad city’s Chanakyapuri area, about a dozen men stormed an eatery named ‘One Stop North-East’ where the Naga youths were preparing and serving non-vegetarian north-eastern dishes. The food vigilantes attacked the duo for selling non-vegetarian snacks and warned against non-vegetarian food being sold in what they called ‘Hindu Gujarat’.

The intruders also threatened to kill the two Naga youths if they dared to sell non-vegetarian food in Gujarat.

The injured Naga youths were rushed to a hospital by their employer.