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”.
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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.”