New Delhi: A Dalit family was allegedly attacked at their house by a large group of upper caste Hindu people at a Haryana village, over a dispute on switching off lights in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call last Sunday.
Modi had called for the country to express solidarity in the fight against COVID-19 by switching of their lights for nine minutes at 9 pm on April 5.
The Hindu has reported that as per a complaint filed by Dhanpal, a resident of Palwal’s Pingore village, around 35 people belonging to the Gujjar community barged into his house at around 9.30 pm on Sunday.
Using casteist slurs, the group, armed with sticks, iron rods and bricks, the group threatened Dhanpal with dire consequences if he did not keep the lights off at his house for the entire night. Dhanpal wrote in his complaint that the accused attacked them even after he told them that he and his family had switched off the lights for the nine minutes.
Also read: Modi Harnesses ‘Power of Light’, Questions Remain on Strategy to Combat COVID-19
Some members of the family of eight sustained injuries.
The station house office of Sadar police station, Jitender Kumar told The Hindu that the attack took place after a fight between the children of the two families. The police claimed that the two families had thrown stones at each other and damaged a vehicle.
Quoting from the complaint, The Indian Express wrote that Dhanpal claimed that his house was looted, doors and windows damaged and “my cars (a Baleno and a Bolero) were heavily damaged”. They were also threatened against going to police.
An FIR was filed under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 34 (common intention), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
Express reported that three people, identified as Ankit, Sachin and Pawan, were arrested and remanded to judicial custody, while the other accused are still on the run.