Uttar Pradesh: Dalit man forced to lick ground after urinating near temple, accused held

Lucknow: In a shocking incident, an elderly dalit man was allegedly forced to ‘lick’ the ground after ‘accidentally urinating’ near a temple on the outskirts of the state capital.

The accused, identified as Swami Kant, alias Pammu, who owned a jewellery shop near the temple, was arrested.

According to the police sources, the incident happened on Monday evening but came to light on Tuesday after the victim, identified as 60year old Rampal Rawat lodged a complaint with the police.

Rawat, in his complaint, said that he was abused, threatened and forced to ‘lick’ the ground, where he had allegedly ‘accidentally urinated’ and was also made to clean the temple by Pammu. Pammu, according to the reports, was a member of the RSS though the police denied it.

Rawat’s grandson Mukesh Kumar said that the former was having health related issues and that he regularly took medicines. ’’My grandfather may have accidentally urinated while coughing,’’ Mukesh said.

Mukesh said that Rawat was so terrified by the incident that he did not mention it to his family members on Monday and narrated about it on the next day.

Police said that a case under the SC/ST Act and other relevant sections of the BNS was registered against Pammu and that the investigations were ongoing.

The opposition parties decried the incident and said that it reflected the ‘anti-dalit’ mentality of BJP and the RSS. ‘’It is a blot on humanity and the accused must be sternly punished,’’ Congress said in a post on ‘X’.

State BJP leaders later met Rampal and assured him that action would be taken against the accused.