Dalit E-rickshaw Driver Stripped, Assaulted And Paraded Wearing Shoe Garland In Morena

MORENA: A Dalit e-rickshaw driver was allegedly abducted on National Highway 44, stripped, thrashed and paraded half-naked while wearing a garland of shoes. This incident has sent shock waves across the region.

It is learnt that 40-year-old Mohanlal (name changed) of Jatawar village, which falls in the jurisdiction of Morena’s Civil Lines Police Station, supports his family by working as a labourer and also driving an e-rickshaw.

The Dalit e-rickshaw driver was returning to his village on Saturday evening after picking up passengers, was allegedly abducted on National Highway 44. He was then taken to Janakpur village, where he was stripped, thrashed and paraded half-naked while wearing a garland of shoes.

He was returning to his village after picking up passengers from the bus stand when a tractor trolley blocked his e-rickshaw near Chambaldeep Hotel next to Sikroda Canal on National Highway 44.

There were around two dozen people riding the tractor-trolley.

The victim has accused Dilip Gurjar, Bhura Gurjar and Surendra Gurjar of disembarking from the tractor trolley and forcibly pulling him out of the e-rickshaw. He was then allegedly thrown on the road and beaten up brutally.

He was allegedly kicked, punched and beaten with sticks. Thereafter, they allegedly put him in the tractor trolley and took him to Gangapur where they stripped him and placed a garland of shoes around his neck.

He was then taken to Janakpur village where he was made to sit in the middle of the village and beaten up.

After this, he was paraded around the village. The victim disclosed, “I was held hostage for half an hour and humiliated at gunpoint.”

Meanwhile, the passengers of his e-rickshaw are said to have approached the Police that rescued him from the clutches of the accused. A case has been registered against Bhura Gurjar, Surendra Gurjar, Mahendra Gurjar, Dilip Gurjar and Karua Gurjar.

One of the accused has been arrested while the search for the others is on.

The victim told the Police that he had a dispute with the accused Dilip Gurjar, Bhura Gurjar and Sheru Gurjar of Janakpur village around Diwali last year.

The accused had assaulted him at that time also after which he had got them booked by the Police.

According to the victim, the accused were continuously pressurising him to reach a settlement in the previous case. When he refused, they conspired and targeted him. The victim has alleged that the entire incident from kidnapping to parading him around the village, was the result of the pressure aimed at intimidating him and compelling him to withdraw the case.

Meanwhile, the Station House Officer (SGO) at Civil Lines Police Station, Udaybhan Singh Yadav, initially described the incident as a scuffle, saying that an old dispute between the two parties had surfaced. But he later came out with a totally different version of the episode.

Yadav claimed that the victim’s family members told the Police that he was transporting passengers, among whom were the accused. When he dropped them near the canal and sought payment, the accused refused to pay and assaulted the victim. The victim was then left wandering in the area till the Police brought him to the Police Station.

Yadav said, “It could be an old dispute. But if that were the case, why would they be riding in his e-rickshaw? He would have told us they were pressuring him to compromise.” He said the Police have registered a case against the five accused who were named in the incident, and one of them has been arrested.

The incident has started assuming political connotations with the leaders from outfits like the Bhim Army, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Azad Samaj Party (ASP) descending on the Civil Lines Police Station and demanding strict action against the accused, after a fair investigation, failing which they would launch an agitation.