(This story was first published on 29 October 2023 and is being republished in light of Congress' Girraj Singh Malinga, MLA from Bari in Rajasthan's Dholpur joining the BJP. Malinga was accused of assaulting Harshadipati Valmiki, a Dalit engineer with the Rajasthan power board.)
The morning of 28 March 2022 was business as usual for Harshadipati Valmiki, a 28-year-old Assistant Engineer with the power department in Rajasthan's Dholpur, until Girraj Singh Malinga — a local MLA from the Congress party — turned up at his office, unannounced.
"I was in a meeting with some senior officials when the MLA, along with a few others barged into my cabin. There was a sudden, awkward silence. He leaned against a chair, picked it up and said...teri itni himmat ki tu thakuron ke gaon ke connection katega? (how dare you cut the power supply of a Thakur village). Then, he threw that chair at my face and his men started beating me up with sticks, bats, rods, and whatever else they could find. They broke every bone in my body and hit me just as much as anybody could hit anyone. And then, they left me to die. People who were in that room with me ran away to save their lives," alleged Harshadipati, who at the time publishing this story had spent 580 days seeking treatment in Jaipur's Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital.