Family Claims Dalit Man Beaten For Sitting On Chair, Cops Deny Caste Angle

The family of a 30-year-old Dalit man has alleged that he was beaten up by a group of persons for sitting on a chair in a village panchayat office in Madhya Pradesh's Chhatarpur district.

But, Bijawar's sub-divisional officer of police Raghu Kesri on Monday denied the claim that the man was thrashed for sitting on a chair and said the incident, which took place on Saturday, was a fallout of an enmity between the man and the accused.

A case has been registered and efforts are on to arrest the accused, he said.

The man's wife and a panchayat official said the victim was seriously injured in the incident which took place in Chauka village under Matguan police station limits, around 10 km from the district headquarters.

Talking to reporters, the victim's wife alleged that one Rohit Singh Thakur thrashed her husband after he sat on a chair in the village panchayat office on Saturday.

She said Thakur objected to it saying how a Dalit man dared to sit on a chair in front of him and asserted that only Thakurs will sit on the chair.

She said her husband was injured seriously after Thakur and his accomplices beat him up.

The woman said she feared for the safety of her family. She also said she had filed a complaint with police, but claimed no action was taken on it.

Chauka village panchayat secretary Arvind Kumar Ahirwar said the victim had come to his office to submit papers for the construction of a well under the Kapil Dhara Yojana on Saturday.

He also claimed that Thakur objected after the man sat on a chair and beat him up.

On Sunday, Thakur along with two others reached the victim's home and attacked him again for sitting on the chair despite being a Dalit, he further alleged.

The victim suffered serious head injuries, fractures on hands and injuries on other body parts, and was undergoing treatment at the district hospital, Ahirwar said.

Village sarpanch Krishna Gopal Ahirwar claimed the victim was beaten up for the reason that he came to the panchayat office in a car and sat on the chair.

He said after the dispute over sitting on the chair on Saturday, the accused along with others reached the victim's home on Sunday evening and thrashed him.