New Delhi: Two Pathan men in Gujarat were booked by the police in the Gandhidham town of Kutch district on Tuesday for allegedly beating up a 27-year-old Dalit truck driver for wearing a ‘pathani suit’ on November 26.
According to a report in Times of India, the young man was drinking tea when he was suddenly confronted by Amjad Pathan and Asghar Pathan, who came on a bike and began an argument with him. They asked him why he was dressed in a ‘pathani suit’ and then apparently one of them lifted the suit from behind him and covered up his face. They then beat him up.
The duo allegedly also hurled casteist slurs at him and said, “You belong to a lower caste and should not wear a pathani.” They also threatened to kill him if he ever wore a pathani suit again.
The victim filed an FIR and the accused have been booked under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, as well as for assault and criminal intimidation. They have not been arrested yet.
Also read: The Dalit is the New Muslim
It is not entirely shocking for Muslims to be practising casteist discrimination against Dalits. The followers of Islam in India and South Asia have their own caste hierarchy in which ‘Syeds’ and Pathans consider themselves higher than others, especially the pasmanda, or ‘backward’ Muslims. It is also not uncommon for Dalit men to routinely be beaten up by those considered “upper caste” cutting across religion.
In May 2019, a Dalit man died after he was beaten up in Uttarakhand, for eating alongside “upper caste” people at a wedding.
In September 2019, a Dalit man was beaten up in Uttar Pradesh and then set on fire for allegedly being in a relationship with an “upper caste” woman.
In the same month, another Dalit man was beaten to death in Rajasthan because some people thought he had stolen a water pump.
In November 2019, a Dalit man in Punjab died after he was beaten up and made to drink cow urine.