Former Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay reached the protest site and supported Uttarakhand Samvaidhanik Sanrakshan Manch (USSM) members who have been sitting on protest near Parade Ground for the last seven days.
The protesters have been demanding that the police should trace the Dalit youth missing from Gangi village in Tehri district. USSM leader Daulat Kunwar said that he along with four other association members would sit on relay hunger strike from Monday morning in support of four-point demands.
He said that their four demands include tracing the missing 17-year-old Dalit youth Rakesh lal, arrest of all the 20 accused under SC/ST Act, security be ensured for the Dalit families and suspension of the police officers based in Ghansali who had allegedly brokered a compromise in the incident involving the Dalit community members.
He said that police are yet to trace the 17-year-old Rakesh lal missing since December 1 from Gangi village following a spat between the upper caste and Dalit community people that later resulted in the Dalit people leaving the village reportedly fearing for their safety. Slamming cops for saying that the youth could have disappeared as per a plan hatched by his family members, Kunwar said that they are trying to camouflage things.