Dalit thrashing case: Congress VP Rahul Gandhi to visit Una today

New Delhi: The Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will be visiting Una town of Gujarat on Thursday, to take stock of the situation caused by brutal thrashing of community youth. The bandh call given by Dalit organisations to protest the incident in Una town got a mixed response on Wednesday, with incidents of stone-pelting and road blockade reported at some places, even as Chief Minister Anandiben Patel met family members of the victims. Some parts of Saurashtra and north Gujarat regions observed total bandh where sporadic incidents of stone-pelting and road blockade were witnessed. The bandh has been largely peaceful so far, police said, adding that it had no effect in other parts of the state. The Dalit community members continued their protest across the state against the brutal assault on some community members on July 11 for allegedly skinning a cow at Una in Gir-Somnath district. Police has been deployed as standby in many areas of the state. The bandh was largely observed in Amreli and Junagadh cities of Saurashtra region, including some other small towns like Dhoraji and Dhrol with some incidents of damaging buses and stone-pelting reported during protest. The protest call crippled life in Junagadh and Amreli as schools, colleges and business establishment observed total bandh. Some protesters damaged a state transport bus at a depot in Junagadh, police said. Rajkot also witnessed street protests during the bandh following which around 50 people were detained by police. However, the bandh call was not followed in the town and the situation was normal. In Patan, a group of protesters pelted stones at a movie theatre, forcing its closure. They also forced road blockade in the town, police said. As a precautionary measure, authorities have decided to shut down several routes of state transport buses due to the bandh call and protest by Dalit Panthers and other community organisations. In Ahmedabad, the protesters tried to enforce bandh in some pockets, like Chandkheda and Kalapinagar, where they were seen forcing markets and schools to shut down. Chief Minister Anandiben Patel visited Mota Samaliyala village in Una, where the alleged incident of beating of seven Dalits had taken place triggering violence across the state, and met family members of the victims.