UP: Dalit woman prevented from worshipping well, accused of pulling her blouse and beating her when she protested
The woman alleges that she was called casteist slurs and was also beaten up. Police is not registering a case.
Published on: 19 May 2024, 6:54 pm
Uttar Pradesh. In the Cantonment police station area of Basti district of UP, during a marriage ceremony in a Dalit family, some miscreants protested during the ritual of worshipping the well. The Dalit woman alleges that she was prevented from worshipping the well. When the woman protested, her blouse was pulled. She was abused using caste-related language and was also beaten up.
The woman alleges that the local police did not take any action in this case. The woman has given a complaint letter to the Superintendent of Police and demanded action. The Superintendent of Police has ordered the station in-charge to investigate and take action.
The family alleges that the police of the police station took our statements and noted down the numbers of the witnesses and gave these numbers to the accused. Now he is threatening us.
The whole matter is of Sauri village of Cantonment police station of Basti district. Anita, wife of Ramkumar Kanaujia, has written a letter to the Superintendent of Police Basti and appealed for justice. In the letter, she has accused Raj Upadhyay, son of Jagannath Upadhyay of the same village, saying that on April 18, 2024, at the wedding of her brother-in-law, he was dancing and singing with DJ during the well worship program. During this, Raj Upadhyay opposed the well worship.
Anita alleges that Raj Upadhyay used casteist slurs and abused the people present at the wedding ceremony. He threatened to stop the DJ. When she resisted and tried to climb the public well, Raj Upadhyay got angry and started beating Anita and tore her blouse.
Anita’s brother-in-law Rajmangal told The Muknayak, “It was my wedding ceremony. The well worship ceremony was going on at around 7 pm. During this time Raj Upadhyay came there. He is addicted to drinking alcohol. He started opposing our well worship. When we opposed this, he tore the clothes of our sister-in-law. He used abusive caste-related language and beat her up.”
Anita and her family members remained calm so that the wedding ceremony could be completed smoothly. After all the relatives left, on 23 April 2024, Anita and her family members gave a complaint letter to the Cantonment Police Station. But the local police did not take any action.
When Raj Upadhyay got the news of the application being given from somewhere, it is alleged that he started looking for Anita like a madman to kill her. Frustrated and frightened by this, Anita again appealed to the Superintendent of Police for justice on Friday, May 17, 2024 and demanded action by registering a case against Raj Upadhyay.
Police gave the numbers of witnesses to the accused
The victim’s family alleges that they were not heard at the police station. Due to this, they complained about the entire matter to the SP. The SP ordered the police station to investigate. During this time, the police interrogated us and noted down the numbers of the witnesses. The police gave the numbers of the witnesses to the accused, after which he has been continuously threatening us. The police have not registered our case.
In this case, the police station in-charge told The Mooknayak, “The whole matter was about the loud sound of the DJ. The accused was challaned in this case. The incident told by the victim is not true.”
It is noteworthy that according to NCRB data, Uttar Pradesh has the highest crime rate in India in 2024. As of 2022, the crime rate of UP was 171.6%, the crime rate per capita in Uttar Pradesh is 7.4 However, according to NCRB data, UP has the highest crime rate, with the reported incidents reaching 753,675.
