A Dalit student was attacked in Allahabad on Friday. The 26-year old was attacked at a restaurant violently with hockey sticks and bricks. The accused has now been arrested after the video of the incident went viral. The law student in question died after the attack.
The incident
The story goes that Dileep was out with his friends on Friday. They had gone to a restaurant in Karnalganj where the attack took place. A complaint was filed by Dileep’s brother on which basis an FIR was registered. The FIR was lodged against 6 accused and the main accused was arrested. Munna Chauhan the arrested attacker was identified from the CCTV footage. The student was identified as Dileep Saroj, a law student in Allahabad. When he went out with his friends he got caught in an altercation. Apparently, Dileep’s feet touched a Vijay Shankar Singh’s feet. The two groups got into a fight in the restaurant.
A waiter at the restaurant was Munna Chauhan, who got hit by one of the chairs that were thrown. Enraged, Chauhan hit Dileep with a rod. After brutal attacking Dileep it was said tried to run from the scene, but fell unconscious outside the restaurant. In spite of being unconscious, the attackers continued to beat Dileep. When he was admitted in the hospital he slipped into a coma, then died on Sunday.
While an FIR has been lodged, under sections 323, 307 and 308 of the Indian Penal Code, the SC-ST act is still to be added. The video in question went viral, which was how the action was taken against the accused. The violence of this nature should be a concern. While the caste factor in this story is yet to materialise but it raises questions of how violence can break out at the drop of a hat. Nobody should be allowed to take matters into their own hands and beat another person to death regardless of caste, class, gender or religion. That’s why we have laws in place, one would think.