AGRA: Shocked and traumatised after allegedly being kicked, punched and humiliated by some policemen for sitting on a chair at the local Ramlila, a 48-year-old Dalit man went home and hanged himself to death at Salempur Vivi village under Soron police station of Kasganj district on Sunday night. Family members of the deceased and people from the Dalit community staged a protest on Monday demanding action against the accused.
In view of the simmering tension, a large police force has been deployed. Victim Ramesh Chand’s body was sent for post-mortem, said police. Senior officers have now ordered a probe.
In her police complaint, the deceased’s wife, Ram Rati, claimed her husband had gone to the neighbourhood Ramlila at 9 pm on Sunday and sat on an empty chair. Seeing a Dalit sitting on a chair did not go down with the organisers, who called constables Bahadur (who goes by his first name only) and Vikram Chaudhary to “throw Chand out”.
The cops proceeded to brutally thrash Chand on the instructions of the organisers, and used casteist slurs against him, said Ram Rati in her complaint. “They then pulled the gamcha around his neck, threw him on the ground and kicked and punched him,” she said.
Chand cried and asked people present at the event what his mistake was, but no one had any answer. He then rushed home and told his wife about the humiliation he faced, and went to his room. On Monday morning, Ram Rati found her husband hanging from the ceiling.
Chand was a farmer. He is survived by his wife and four minor children, including two daughters.
Additional SP Rajesh Bharti said, “The man had climbed the stage at the Ramlila in an inebriated condition and sat there. The organisers and spectators raised objections to this, and with the help of policeman on duty, he was taken off stage. He went back home safely. At 6 am on Monday, he was found hanging in his home. The matter is being investigated.”
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