A 20-year-old Dalit man in Gujarat's Mehsana was allegedly forced to apologise and shave off his moustache by upper caste youths from his village on Saturday, 7 December.
The Dalit youth, named Sanjaybhai Ranchhodbhai Parmar, hails from the Mora Kothasana village. He alleged that the men gave him death threats, and forced him to shave off his moustache, reported The Indian Express.
Parmar claims that the incident is on video, and has now gone viral.
The Indian Express quoted Mehsana Superintendent of Police Manish Singh as saying that an FIR has been registered under several sections of the IPC, including Section 67 of the Information & Technology Act and several sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
He said that the accused and Parmar are from the same village.
The report also cited the FIR as saying that Parmar got a call from one of the accused at around 8:42 am, asking him to come to Kothasana Health sub-centre.
Parmar was first asked to shave off his moustache. After he did that the men made him apologise before beating him up, Parmar told the newspaper, adding that the neighbours and his family members came to his rescue.
According to Ahmedabad Mirror, Parmar was admitted to a hospital after the incident. The report quoted Parmar's father as saying, "My son did everything as promised but they still beat him. They even posted online how they made a Dalit remove his moustache."
“We feel threatened and so filed a complaint.”Ranchhod Parmar, Victim’s father to Ahmedabad Mirror
(With inputs from The Indian Express and Ahmedabad Mirror)
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