UP: Dalit minor boy beaten up for touching feet of Ganesh idol

In separate incidents, three members of the Dalit community were beaten in Kannauj and Shravasti in Uttar Pradesh. Pandal organiser beat up minor boy for touching feet of idol at Sadar Kotwali. Father and son were beaten for touching water bottle at Shravasti.

Kannauj/Shravasti (Uttar Pradesh):A Dalit minor boy was allegedly beaten by pandal organizers for touching the feet of Ganesh idol at Sadar Kotwali in Uttar Pradesh's Kannauj district. The child has suffered serious injuries. The incident took place on Wednesday night.

According to sources, Sunny Gautam, son of Rajesh Gautam, a local resident was playing with friends. While playing with friends, he went to touch the feet of Ganesh's idol. At this, Babban Gupta, one of the pandal organisers, got furious over this. Babban along with sons Pramit Gupta and Mohar Singh started beating the Dalit boy.

The victim along with his father reached Kotwali and filed a complaint against the three accused. Kotwali in-charge Alok Kumar Dubey said, "Medical examination of the child has been done. We are investigating the matter." Meanwhile, Babban's family said that the scuffle started due to Rajesh entering into the pandal in a drunken state.

Meanwhile, in another incident, a Dalit father and son were allegedly beaten by a supply inspector and a clerk for touching a water bottle in Uttar Pradesh's Shravasti of Jamunha Tehsil Complex. An old man, who went to get the ration card corrected at the office of the Department of Food and Logistics, tried to drink water from a bottle kept on the table.

As soon as he touched the water bottle, the supply inspector got angry and along with the clerk beat him up and his son became the target when he tried to intervene. After this, the advocates' community came out in support of the injured old man. During this, there was also a scuffle between the supply inspector and the advocates. On being informed, the police reached the spot and investigated the matter. The injured father and son have been admitted to health centre for treatment, police said.