AHMEDABAD: A scheduled caste student was allegedly thrashed with a belt and a wooden stick by four youths over a petty joke near his college hostel in Gujarat's Mehsana.
The caste-based assault sparked outrage prompting the police to invoke the Atrocities Act and the college to suspend one accused from the hostel.
The victim, a scheduled caste student from Porbandar, currently residing at the BBA/BCA College hostel in Mehsana, was allegedly assaulted, publicly humiliated and abused with casteist slurs. The complaint, now registered at Mehsana A-Division Police Station, names Mitesh and three of his associates as the accused.
According to the FIR, the incident happened on February 3, when Mitesh, who lived in the same hostel as the victim, allegedly abused him under the guise of a joke.
When he retaliated the abuse, Mitesh threatened him. “He warned me that he would see me in the morning,” the victim told the media.
As the victim stepped out of the hostel the next day for college along with a friend, the accused allegedly intercepted him near a Hanuman temple close to the hostel.
The four youths allegedly forced the student to fall at their feet and apologise. When he refused, the situation escalated rapidly. Hurling caste-based abuses, the accused allegedly brutally assaulted him.
One of the accused reportedly struck the student with a wooden stick, while another lashed him with a belt. The assault continued until other hostel inmates intervened.
The student inititally sought medical help at Ganpat University Hospital. However, as pain and swelling intensified by evening, he was shifted to Mehsana Civil Hospital through the 108 emergency service.
Later, accompanied by his mother, the victim approached the police and filed a detailed complaint. Acting on the statement, Mehsana A-Division Police registered a case under relevant sections of the BNS for assault, along with provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Police officials said further investigation is underway and statements of witnesses are being recorded.
Meanwhile, Ganpat University PRO Bhikhesh Bhatt told The New Indian Express, “Our college committee has taken immediate action. The accused student has been suspended from the hostel, and disciplinary proceedings are underway. We have also called his family and clearly conveyed that such incidents will not be tolerated in the future.”