Cow Vigilantes in Maharashtra Allegedly Assault Dalit Man, Force Him to Eat Dung

Hiwale told the police that one of the accused also recorded the incident on a mobile phone and threatened him and his family with serious consequences if they approached the police,

The Wire Staff

Hiwale told the police that one of the accused also recorded the incident on a mobile phone and threatened him and his family with serious consequences if they approached the police,

cow vigilantes in maharashtra allegedly assault dalit man force him to eat dung

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty.

New Delhi: A Dalit man was allegedly assaulted by cow vigilantes in Maharashtra’s Jalna who later forced him to eat cow dung. Following the incident, the police have registered a case against six cow vigilantes, reported Press Trust of India.

The incident allegedly took place in May. After a purported video of the incident started circulating on social media, the victim, identified as Parameshwar Suhas Hiwale, approached the police.

Hiwale told the authorities that on May 23, after purchasing a bull from a weekly cattle market in Deulgaon Raja, he was returning to Jalna along with his 11-year-old son and an acquaintance named Narayan Maroti Kamble.

As he was on his way back home, a group, claiming to be Bajrang Dal members and cow protectors, intercepted their vehicle in Kanhaiyanagar area, and alleged that Hiwale was planning to sell the animal to a Muslim butcher, Hiwale told the police.

Despite Hiwale denying the allegation and showing the accused documents pertaining to the purchase of the bull, the cow vigilantes allegedly they slapped him, hurled caste-related abuse after asking his name and caste, and forcibly stuffed cow dung into his mouth, Hiwale has alleged, reported Press Trust of India.

Hiwale told the police that the accused allegedly also tried to force cow dung into the mouth of his minor son, but he resisted. Kamble, his companion, was also allegedly abused and assaulted, and the vehicle was damaged, said Hiwale.

Hiwale alleged that one of the accused also recorded the incident on a mobile phone and threatened him and his family with serious consequences if they approached the police,

After he got to know that a video of the incident was circulating on Instagram, Hiwale approached Jalna Tehsil police station on August 21.

The police have registered a case under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 126(2) (wrongful restraint), 115(2) (voluntarily causing physical hurt to another person), 189(2) (unlawful assembly) besides provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against six persons who have been identified, said police inspector Santosh Sable.

Additional Superintendent of Police Vikram Sali told PTI that an FIR has been registered. He added that a sub-divisional police officer was conducting further probe and no arrest has been made yet.

This article went live on August twenty-eighth, two thousand twenty six, at fifty-two minutes past two in the afternoon.

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