New Delhi: A group of seven ‘upper caste’ men allegedly chopped off a Dalit man’s thumb after his nephew picked up a cricket ball during a match at a school playground in Gujarat’s Patan district, news reports said.
According to the report, the incident happened in Kakoshi village in the district on June 4, a police official told PTI.
The first information report (FIR) said that one of the accused persons, Kuldeepsinh Rajput, got angry and scolded the eight-year-old boy who had picked up the ball while watching a cricket match at a school playground in the village, PTI reported.
While the matter had been settled for the time being, the complainant, Dhiraj Parmar, who’s the boy’s uncle, later learned that his brother, Kirti, had been brutally assaulted by the accused persons, Ahmedabad Mirror reported.
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After the verbal spat at the playground, Parmar had left but his brother, Kirti, stayed at a tea stall, the Times of India reported.
They assaulted him with sticks and swords, cutting off the thumb of his left hand completely. They also injured the last finger on his right hand, the Ahmedabad Mirror reported.
On June 5, Kakoshi police of Patan filed an FIR against the accused persons under sections 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons), 506 (criminal intimidation) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act), the police official cited above told the news agency.
According to a Scroll.in report, superintendent of Police Vishakha Dabral said two of the seven men have been arrested and teams have been formed to nab the others.