In a spine-chilling video that has surfaced on Twitter, two Dalit men were beaten and tortured with a screwdriver by a group in Karnu village of Nagaur's Panchaudi area in Rajasthan.
The incident happened a few days back on February 16 and the video has now gone viral on social media, evoking public outrage. The sickening video captures the brutality of a group of men who went on to mercilessly beat up and torture the two youths.
Rajasthan police have arrested five people -- Hanuman Singh, Aidan Singh, Raghuvir Singh, Chhail Singh and Rehmatullah -- in connection with the case where the perpetrators pull off the pants of the victim, then douse a screwdriver with petrol and insert it in his rectum.
While Hanuman is the owner, others are workers at the agency where the duo from the Dalit community allegedly tried to steal money from the cashbox at a motorcycle showroom, Nagaur superintendent of police (SP) Vikas Pathak said.
READ | Horrific & sickening: Rahul Gandhi tweets, expresses shock over video
More arrests to be made
An FIR has been registered and the accused have been charged under sections 342 (for wrongful confinement), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 143 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code and various sections of the SC/ST Act.
Meanwhile, the police officer also said that some more arrests are expected today.
The victims, identified as 25-year-old Bisa Ram and 18-year-old Panna Lal and are residents of Bhojas village, some 20 km away from Karnu where the violence took place.
Reacting to the incident, lawyer and Dalit rights activist PL Mimroth said that it's shocking that violence of such nature continues to happen in independent India. "What emboldens them to torture a Dalit person, record it and share the video? At times, it feels we are still living in medieval times," said Mimroth, the head of Centre for Dalit Rights, Jaipur.
'Horrific & sickening'
Condemning the attack against Dalits in Rajasthan's Nagaur, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter urging the state government to take immediate action against the perpetrators. "The recent video of two young Dalit men being brutally tortured in Nagaur, Rajasthan is horrific & sickening. I urge the state Government to take immediate action to bring the perpetrators of this shocking crime to justice," tweeted the Congress leader.
(With agency inputs)
