A 32-year-old Dalit man was allegedly harassed and forced to rub his nose on a platform at a temple for purportedly making derogatory comments on Hindu gods on Tuesday, 22 March, after his criticism of the Bollywood movie The Kashmir Files sparked a social media row.
A video of the incident, which had occurred at Gokulpur village in the Alwar district of Rajasthan, has gone viral on social media.
It shows Rajesh Kumar Meghwal rubbing his nose on a platform at a temple, under pressure from the people surrounding him.
A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against 11 people on Tuesday night.
The police have arrested seven people in the case, namely Ajay Kumar Sharma, Sanjeet Kumar, Hemant Sharma, Parvinder Kumar, Ramotar, Nitin Jagid, and Dayaram.
A case has been registered against them under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Speaking about the incident, Superintendent of Police (SP) Shantanu Kumar said that the Circle Officer has rounded up a few people and is carrying out questioning.
"Such acts are not tolerable in a democratic country. Everyone has the right to speak their mind on social media," he said, according to news agency ANI.
Criticism of 'The Kashmir Files'
Meghwal, who works at a private bank, had criticised the movie The Kashmir Files on Facebook on 21 March, which had invited heated comments and threats.
As per Bhiwadi SP Shantanu Kumar Singh, Meghwal had submitted a report at the Gokulpur police station on the matter.
In his Facebook post, he had asked whether atrocities only happened with Pandits and not Dalits and had written that atrocities against the poor were happening on a daily basis, but nothing was being done for their safety.
In response to his comments, some users wrote 'Jai Shree Ram' and 'Jai Shree Krishna.' Meghwal reacted to the comments with alleged remarks against Hindu gods.
Later, he apologised on social media for his comments, but some locals forced him to apologise in a temple.
A statement by the Circle Officer reportedly indicated that some people present there forced him to rub his nose on the floor of the temple.
(With inputs from The Wire and ANI.)
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