Indian legislator thrashes low-caste man over buying car

GUJARAT: In another incident of caste discrimination in Indian society, a legislator belonging to upper-caste subjected a Dalit man to brutal torture over purchasing a luxurious car in Gujarat, ARY News reported on Monday.

According to the details, Anil Upadhyay, a Member Legislative Assembly (MLA) affiliated with the ruling party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), along with his supports mercilessly beaten a low-caste Dalit man for buying a car.

In a video, which is available with the ARY News, Upadhyay and his supports were brutally torturing the low-caste man with iron roads, batons and kicks. They also smashed his car. The video went viral as soon as it was uploaded on the social media.

It is pertinent to mention here that Dalits are among the most marginalized groups in India, where discrimination on the basis of caste is outlawed but remains widespread.

Earlier, Indian police on April 13 had said that one man was killed and three injured in an attack by a mob while they were skinning a dead ox, in the latest case of so-called cow lynching.

At least 44 people died in cow-related violence between May 2015 and December last year by Hindu vigilantes.

Opponents of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had say that such groups had become emboldened since his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to power in 2014.