Dalit group thrashed by mob in Una; victims allege police inaction

August 15, 2016  23:03
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Around eight Dalits were severely injured when a mob allegedly attacked them and 12 of their community members at Samter village near Una, while they were returning home after attending a protest rally in Una town of Gir Somnath district this evening.

The incident took place around 5 pm. Police lobbed teargas shells to disperse the crowd and resorted to mild lathi-charge, even as the victims alleged that the force did 'nothing to help' them.

The victims also claimed that the attackers were residents of Samter village, who wanted to 'avenge' the arrest of 12 persons in connection with last month's Una Dalit flogging case.

The 20 victims, who are from Bhavnagar district, had gone to Una on their motorcycles along with others. They were returning home after hoisting of a tricolour by Radhika Vemula, mother of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula who had committed suicide in Hyderabad, and Balu Sarvaiya, father of one of the victims of Una Dalit flogging incident, in the presence of JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar. 

The mob stopped and attacked them at Samter, which falls on Una-Bhavnagar road and not far from Mota Samadhiyala village, where seven Dalits had been brutally beaten up by cow vigilantes last month.
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