'An Act of Revenge': Dalit Youth Assaulted Over Ambedkar Posters In Rajasthan Succumbs To Injuries

Banmia's cousin Mukesh who is an eyewitness and the one who registered the complaint said that the assault was "an act of revenge" for the poster incident.

Jaipur: A 21-year-old Dalit man in Rajasthan has succumbed to injuries sustained in an assault by a group of men belonging to an OBC community. On June 5th, Vinod Bamnia, who was a member of Bhim Army, was assaulted near his home in Kikraliya village of Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh district and died in a hospital in Sriganganagar two days later.

The incident occurred nearly two weeks after some of the attackers tore down posters of B R Ambedkar that were displayed outside Bamnia's house. 

According to Indian Express, the police have confirmed at least two persons - Anil Sihag & Rakesh Sihag - were named by the victim's family for the poster incident and then in a subsequent FIR following Vinod's assault and death two days later. The two are among the four who have been arrested so far. The FIR also stated that casteist slurs were also shouted at the victim during the assault.

According to the police, the late last month, some men from the village tore down Ambedkar posters that were pasted outside Bamnia's home, but on the direction of the panchayat the family of the men apologized to Bamnia and no police complaint was filed. However, some of the men attacked Vinod on June 5th as an act of revenge.

The report said, that an initial FIR of the assault was registered by police under IPC sections 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) & 143 (punishment for unlawful Assembly) — and sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. After Vinod’s death, the charge of attempt to murder was changed to murder under IPC section 302.

Banmia's cousin Mukesh who is an eyewitness and the one who registered the complaint told the Indian Express that the assault was "an act of revenge" for the poster incident.

“Recently, some men including Anil Sihag and Rakesh Sihag, who also live in our village, had torn the banners of Babasaheb Ambedkar, which were put up outside our home since Ambedkar Jayanti on April 14. After we identified them, we complained to their families. The matter was sorted with the mediation of the panchayat, and their family members apologised on their behalf,” told Indian Express.

Describing the incident Mukesh told the newspaper, that he and Vinod were on their way to the fields where to perpetrators - Anil, Rakesh along with a few others were waiting for them with hockey sticks. They attacked the two, Mukesh made a narrow escape with minor injuries but he said Vinod was beaten with hockey sticks at least 20-30 times.

The police said that Bamnia had registered complaints twice earlier this year according to the Indian Express. An FIR was lodged in April after Bamnia alleged that he was receiving threat calls for objecting to copies of the Hanuman Chalisa being distributed at a school. On May 25, Bamnia filed another FIR in which he named several village residents and accused them of attacking him and his family for objecting to a roadblock.