In yet another incident of thrashing of people belonging to low caste community(dalits), eight persons were arrested by Allavaram police in East Godavari district of India’s Andhra Pradesh state on Wednesday (August 10). They were arrested for allegedly beating up two Dalits who were trying to skin a dead cow.
Police, however, clarified that the incident, which occurred late on Monday(August 8), had nothing to do with ‘cow vigilantism’ as suspected.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressed anger over the incident and warned that anyone trying to disturb law and order would be sternly dealt with. He reviewed the incident with top police officials of the state. He directed the them to take strong legal action against the culprits.
Chandrababu warned that stern action would be initiated against anyone attacking Dalits. He directed East Godavari district Collector to take care of the medical expenses of the two injured and ordered that the victims should be given Rs one lakh.
The arrested persons belonged to Kamanagaruvu village and were not ‘gau rakshaks’ (a cow vigilance group), as suspected, a senior police official from Amalapuram said over phone.
The cow of U Narayana Rao and Gangadhara Rao went missing a couple of days back. As they were searching for their cattle, they found the two Dalits near a burial ground at Sudhapalem village, trying to skin a dead cow.
Suspecting that the two killed the cow, the villagers of Kamanagaruvu allegedly beat them up.
The cow had actually got electrocuted and its owner had engaged the two Dalits for burying it.
The Dalits sustained severe injuries and were admitted to the Amalapuram hospital.
Narayana Rao, Gangadhara Rao and others were arrested on Wednesday (August 10) and booked under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the police official said.