Maharashtra : 6 cow vigilantes booked for assaulting Dalit man, forcing him to eat cow dung
Police on Thursday registered a case against six 'cow vigilantes' for allegedly assaulting a Dalit man and forcing him to eat cow dung after accusing him of planning to sell a bull he had purchased to a butcher.
While the incident allegedly took place in May, the victim approached police when a video of the purported assault began to circulate on social media, officials said.
Parameshwar Suhas Hiwale, the complainant, told police that he was returning to Jalna on May 23 with his 11-year-old son and an acquaintance named Narayan Maroti Kamble after visiting a weekly cattle market at Deulgaon Raja and purchasing a bull.
A group, claiming to be Bajrang Dal members and cow protectors, intercepted their vehicle in Kanhaiyanagar area, and alleged that Hiwale was planning to sell the animal to a Muslim butcher.
Even though he denied the allegation and showed them documents related to the purchase of the animal, they slapped him, hurled caste-related abuse after asking his name and caste, and forcibly stuffed cow dung into his mouth, Hiwale alleged.
An attempt was also allegedly made to force cow dung into the mouth of his minor son, but Hiwale resisted, he told police.
Kamble, his companion, was also allegedly abused and assaulted, while the vehicle was damaged.
One of the accused recorded the incident on a mobile phone and threatened him and his family with serious consequences if they approached the police.
Hiwale approached Jalna Tehsil police station on August 21 after learning that a video of the incident was circulating on Instagram.
A case under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 126(2) (wrongful restraint), 115(2) (voluntarily causing physical hurt to another person), 189(2) (unlawful assembly) besides provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was registered against six persons who have been identified, said police inspector Santosh Sable.
Additional Superintendent of Police Vikram Sali confirmed to PTI that an FIR has been registered. A Sub-Divisional Police Officer was conducting further probe and no arrest has been made yet, he said.
