Mysuru: In an incident that took place in Kuruburu Village in T Narasipur Taluk, few men belonging to the upper caste assaulted a dalit boy after he claimed his reward for winning a competition on September 24 Thursday night.
It was alleged that the upper caste men not only hit the boy but also showed disrespect to BR Ambedkar’s portrait.
Sources say that a competition had been organized by the villagers at a Ganesha pandal. The competition, gundu kallu (stone lifting) was held as part of the Gowri-Ganesha festival.
The organizers declared that the winner would get a cash prize of 2,000. Narayan, Chinnaiah, Rangaiah, Puttaswamy and Mahesh, who are dalit boys, took part in the competition and Narayan won.
However, when Narayan claimed his cash prize, the organizers refused to give it to him; instead they hit him with sticks and chased him along with the other boys to their locality. It is alleged that the villagers also broke the drinking water pipes in the dalit area.
However, the police rushed to the spot and took control of the situation.
Charges of harassment on dalits have been booked against 14 people.
(Agencies)
