In the land of the Mahatma, Dalit man beaten to death for watching Garba

The Dalit man was watching Garba from a distance with his friends The accused said that he did not have any right to watch Garba since he was a Dalit The man then called a few other people and started thrashing the victim

This came as a shocking news on the day of Gandhi Jayanti, that too in the land of the great Mahatma, who fought for the rights of the Dalits and the untouchables. A 21-year-old Dalit man was allegedly beaten to death by a group of people belonging to the Patel community for attending a Garba event in Gujarat's Anand district. 

Jayesh Solanki, his cousin Prakash Solanki, along with two other Dalit men were sitting near a house at 4 am, adjacent to a temple in Bhadrania village when a person made casteist remarks. The man said that Dalits do not have the right to watch Garba and having said that, he asked some other people to gather at the spot. The men then thrashed Jayesh and his friends and banged the former's head against the wall. He was taken to a hospital in Karamsad where he died hours later.

While filing a complaint, the police said that it did not appear to be a pre-planned attack and that Jayesh was killed in the heat of the moment. "We are probing the case from all angles. The accused will be arrested soon," said senior police officer AM Patel.