Dalit lynched for eating in front of high-caste man: NHRC to probe, dispatches team to Tehri

DEHRADUN/NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission ( NHRC ) has decided to take up the case of a dalit's death after he was mercilessly beaten for eating in front of an upper caste man in Uttarakhand's Tehri Garhwal village.


The commission decided to take the action after meeting with a delegation, which included dalit-rights activist Tarun Vijay along side the members of the Human Rights Defence International.

A senior advocate of the Supreme Court Rajesh Gogna, and Arvind Maikhuri, a social activist from Garhwal, were the other members of the delegation.

Jyotika Kalra, a senior member of the NHRC assured the delegation that a high-level team will be formed to investigate the matter.

She also assured to send a team to Tehri Garhwal to investigate the matter.

The NHRC was apprised by the national general secretary of Human Rights Defence International Gogna that it is surprising that no case has been registered under IPC Section 302 and 308. To which, Kalra expressed shock and immediately called for an investigation.

"The daily insults and humiliations to dalits has become a matter of routine which never get reported. Even his state security was withdrawn by Congress government when he was attacked in Jaunsar Pawar and the security hasn't been restored till date. They punish those who work for dalit rights and equality," Vijay said.

Twenty-three-year-old Jitendra Das was mercilessly beaten after he ate food in in front of a member from the high caste in Tehri Garhwal's Nainbagh last week. The youth later succumbed to injuries.