Five upper caste men have been booked for allegedly assaulting a Dalit with burning wood and taking him hostage overnight for praying at a temple at Salra in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi.
Ashish, Ishwar Singh, Bhagyan Singh, Jaiveer Singh, and Chain Singh allegedly told Ayush, 22, he did not have the right to enter the temple before assaulting him on January 9.
A First Information Report (FIR) against them was filed on Wednesday under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the Indian Penal Code’s Sections related to rioting, voluntarily causing hurt, and 506 criminal intimidation, etc.
Police superintendent Arpan Yaduvanshi said they were looking for the accused, who remained on the run. “He [Ayush] is fine now. His family took him to Dehradun for treatment.”
According to the FIR, Ayush suffered severe burn injuries and fainted after the assault. He was without clothes when he came to the next morning. His father tried to save him but the accused, who were allegedly drunk, kept beating him for daring to enter the temple.
