Dalit man tortured, forced to drink urine in UP

A Dalit man was reportedly tortured and forced to drink urine for refusing to harvest a crop of an upper caste man in Uttar Pradesh's Badayun district, about 300 km from here.

According to police sources, the incident had occurred around a week ago but it came to light on Monday, when the family members of the victim approached senior officers.

Sources said that the upper caste members also pulled out the Dalit man's moustache.

The victim, identified as Sitaram, a farmer, was busy harvesting wheat crop in his small field, when Ram Niwas, who is from an upper caste, approached him and asked him to harvest his (Ram Niwas) crop first.

Sitaram refused to do so which provoked Ram Nivas. He then dragged Sitaram to his field and tied him to a tree.

A few other upper caste members also joined him and together they tortured Sitaram and also forced him to drink urine.

A case has been lodged against five people, police said, adding that two among the accused have been arrested and a hunt is on to nab the others.

Ram Niwas denied the charges and claimed that Sitaram had used his field for tilling it on equal sharing of the produce but refused to harvest the wheat crop.

"There was some minor scuffle," he further claimed.