UP: 1 dead in Dalit-Rajput clash over watching Kanwariya procession

Shahira Naim
Tribune News Service
Lucknow, August 10

Tension prevails in rural Meerut after a 19-year-old Dalit student was killed and a dozen people were injured when upper-caste Rajputs turned violent at Uldepur village over a dispute to watch the Kanwariya procession.

After the death on Thursday, angry Dalits from the village protesting alleged police inaction placed the body near an Ambedkar statue outside the village and blocked traffic. Police forcibly sent the body for post-mortem.

Rapid Action Force arrived on the spot to defuse tension after Bhim army activists arrived to meet the protesting villagers.

According to Meerut SP (Rural) Rajesh Kumar, the district police have arrested main accused Krishna Chauhan along with two others and were searching for the other accused for the murder of Rohit.  

According to the police, Uldepur is a mixed village having Rajput and Dalit population. People from both sections had come to witness the passing Kanwariya yatra at Pallavpuram on Wednesday.

It was here that Krishna Chauhan’s sons Sumit and Vineet got into a dispute with Dalit youths Monu and Anuj and allegedly attacked them.

On Thursday, Gram Pradhan Narendra reached the house of Krishna Chauhan along with a Dalit delegation to complain againt his sons’ violent behaviour.

Instead of reprimanding his sons, Krishan Chauhan, along with his sons Sumit, Vineet, Puneet and brothers Baby and Santosh attacked the Dalit delegation with bricks and opened fire, killing Rohit on the spot and injuring many others from the Dalit delegation.

Five people from the Rajput side were also injured in the clash.