A harrowing video has surfaced in which four youths, including two minors, belonging to the Dalit community were allegedly semi-stripped, hung upside down from a tree and beaten up in a village in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district. 

According to reports, the youths were subjected to such cruelty over the suspicion of stealing goats and pigeons. 

Police said that six persons, including two from an upper caste community and two from a Scheduled Caste (SC) community, have been booked under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act as well as under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections for attempt to murder, kidnapping, wrongful restraint, and rioting. 

“The accused suspected that the four youths had committed the theft of some domesticated pigeons and goats. Probe suggests that they dragged the victims out of their homes and took them to a farm where their shirts were removed and hands and legs were tied before tying them upside down from a tree and thrashing them,” said the Ahmednagar police in a statement. 

Fortunately, locals rescued the four and took them to a hospital in Shirarampur and are undergoing treatment. The purported videos of the assault later surfaced social media. 

Prakash Ambedkar, president of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), said, “This is a clear cut case of caste atrocity… we demand that strict action be initiated against the accused.”

Ambedkar took to platform ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter) and stated “I just spoke to one of the victims and his grandmother over a call. He was thrashed, urinated upon, spitted on, forced to lick his own spit, stripped and hung upside down. This is what my people face everyday.”

Meanwhile, Ahmednagar Superintendent of police, Rakesh Ola, said “We have arrested two persons in the case and further investigation is on.”  

Moreover, local organisations protested blocking the Shrirampur-Newasa Road, while several shops were closed.