A 17-year-old pre-university student belonging to a Dalit community was allegedly assaulted by a group of people for sporting a WhatsApp status that carried images of Lord Rama along with B.R. Ambedkar. The attackers were purportedly incensed over the victim “belittling Lord Rama”.
The boy was allegedly later forced to chant ‘Jai Sri Ram’ at a local temple in Humnabad, Bidar district, on January 22, the day of the consecration ceremony of Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Following a complaint lodged by the victim, the Humnabad police on Tuesday registered a case under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 2015, and various sections of the Indian Penal Code and arrested four people — Abhishek, Retesh Reddy, Sunil Reddy, and Abhishek Telanga. All four are residents of Humnabad town.
The victim, a resident of Hunasagera village in Humnabad taluk, in his complaint, said, “They slapped me and hit me. They later dragged me into a Hanuman temple and forced me to pay my respect to the deity and raise the Jai Sri Ram slogan. I had to obey them out of fear.”
