LUCKNOW: A Dalit youth was beaten up and set afire after being mistaken as a thief in Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh. The victim, identified as Sujeet Kumar, 28, a daily wage labourer, died at the Lucknow Trauma Centre on Monday after battling for life for nearly four days.According to sources, Kumar was on his way to his in-laws’ house in Tai Kala village on Thursday night when some stray dogs started chasing him. To escape their wrath, Kumar hid behind a shed outside a house in Raghavpurwa village.
Hearing the dogs, some villagers came out and spotted Kumar hiding behind the wall. They caught hold of Kumar and assuming him to be a thief; they stripped him and started thrashing him.“A group of four persons from Raghavpurwa village even set the lower half of Kumar’s body on fire after sprinkling petrol,” police said.
In the melee, someone informed the police. By the time the police reached the spot, Kumar had suffered nearly 40 per cent burns. He was rushed to a hospital in Lucknow where he succumbed four days later. “Sujeet had burn injuries on the lower half of his body from his thighs to feet and was under observation, he was critical at the time of admission,” Chief Medical Superintendent of Civil Hospital Ashutosh Dubey said.
So far five people have been arrested in connection with the incident.Police had lodged a case against three named persons and one unidentified person under IPC Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and under relevant sections of SC/ST Act. The five persons arrested so far included Umesh Yadav (26), Shravan Yadav (25) and Desh Raj Yadav (50).
Rape bid on woman
A man has been arrested for allegedly trying to rape a woman while she was sleeping on the terrace of her house in UP’s Muzaffarnagar. The incident took place on Monday in the district’s Bhopa village. According to the complaint, the woman was sleeping when their neighbour, Roopesh Kumar, tried to rape her.
Case lodged
A case under Section 306 of IPC has been registered. The three accused have also been booked under Prevention of Atrocities to SC/ST Act
Similar incident
Three days ago, a 35-year-old woman was crushed to death by three men on a tractor, when she resisted their bid to plough her agricultural plot