Dalit man beaten to death over intercaste relationship: Police

Jan 10, 2025 08:42 AM IST

An 18-year-old Dalit man was beaten to death by the family of a woman, belonging to an upper caste, over their relationship in Bidar

Kushanoor police state sub-inspector P Chandra Shekar said that the victim, identified as Sumit Kumar, a first-year BSc student at the Government First Grade College in Kamalanagar, was allegedly in a relationship with an 18-year-old woman from the Gawli community. Both were residents of Kushanoor village.

“The woman’s father and brother, enraged by the inter-caste relationship, had attacked Sumit on January 5 when he went to the woman’s house while her parents were away. Upon their return, her father, Kishan Gawli (55), and brother, Rahul Gawli (24), found Sumit with the woman. They then beat him severely with sticks,” he said.

“He was critically injured and shifted to a hospital in Latur, Maharashtra, for treatment but succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday night,” Shekar said. The girl’s father and brother, arrested on Wednesday, were produced before the JMFC court on Thursday, which remanded them to 14 days of judicial custody, he said.

The officer further said that the accused have been charged under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Section 103 (murder) of the BNS law.

He said that Sumit’s body was sent for post-mortem examination at the Bidar Institute of Medical Sciences (BIMS) hospital on Wednesday and then handed over to his family.

After the incident, the family of the victim staged protest outside BIMS on Wednesday, demanding stringent legal action against the accused.

Sumit’s father, Vijayakumar Maruthi, told reporters: “My son was close to the girl, but we never imagined they would kill him for this reason.”