TUMAKUR: A Dalit youth was allegedly stripped and beaten up by a group of over ten people for allegedly harassing a minor girl in the town of Gubbi in Karnataka on Tuesday. The incident came to light as video clips of the incident were circulated on Whatsapp on Wednesday.
The accused Prakasha alias Kadu Prakash and his associates Nagaraja, Ramesh, Rangappa, Narayana, Byatarayappa and others kidnapped Abhishek (20) in a car and confined him to a room on the farm for the entire day. Later in the night they gave him his clothes and dumped him at Mallasandra village, 13 km from Gubbi.
As news of the incident spread, Dalit organisations laid siege to the town police station and demanded the arrest of the accused. Since the accused are supporters of JD(S) MLA S R Srinivas, the police were dragging their heels on making the arrests, they alleged.
However, police did book the accused under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2015, apart from slapping Sections 506, 323, 340,324 and 504 of the Indian Penal Code against them.
The accused are absconding. Superintendent of police Isha Pant and Sira deputy superintendent of police Venkatesh Naidu visited Gubbi and took stock of the situation.
The youth, a school dropout, is a goods carrier driver and the son of a daily wager at the local market yard. He allegedly acquired the girl’s phone number and began exchanging messages with her on Whatsapp. The girl’s father came to know of it and he trapped the youth and had him beaten up.