More than 300 people in villages around Gujarat’s Sanand district have opted for a unique mode to protest against rising attacks on Dalits in the region. The villagers have changed their WhatsApp display picture to that of a logo of a moustache and wrote ‘Mr Dalit’ on it.
The ‘virtual’ protest took place after a 17-year-old Dalit boy was stabbed in Gandhinagar allegedly by upper caste men for sporting a moustache on Tuesday.
The victim was returning from school when he was attacked by two bike-borne men. The attackers slashed his back with a blade. According to the attackers, a Dalit is not entitled to keep a moustache.
However, his family claimed that he was killed as his cousin, who was also beaten up last week, had filed FIR against them.
“The men who attacked Digant (the victim) wore masks and told him that they had been given Rs. 1.5 lakh to attack those who had lodged the FIR,” NDTV quoted the boy’s uncle Kirit Maheria, as saying.
The attack against Dalits is rising in poll-bound Gujarat these days. Earlier this week, a 21-year-old Dalit man was beaten to death for attending a garba event. The incident happened on October 1.
