Amresh’s parents Jalso and Suresh. (Express Photo)
Jalso had on Sunday fixed her son’s wedding to a girl from the neighbouring village. “We had given the girl Rs 500 for munh dikhai. In turn, they gave Rs 501 to our son,” said her husband Suresh Kumar. A day later, their son, Amresh Kumar, was dead.
Amresh (25), a resident of Muzaffarnagar’s Gadla village, was hit by a bullet, allegedly fired by police, as the Bharat bandh called by Dalit groups over alleged dilution of SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act turned violent Monday.
A labourer, Amresh, left home around 7 am for work. His uncle Mahaveer Singh (62) said the contractor he was working for had asked the labourers to leave once protests started. While Amresh did not return, Mahaveer received a call in the afternoon. “A neighbour called me to say he has been shot,” he said. “When he didn’t return by 6 pm, we knew he was no more,” said Indresh, Amresh’s brother who also works as a labourer but didn’t leave home Monday. Indresh said he knows why his brother went to protest. “The (SC/ST) Act is our only defence and even that is being taken away.”
Jalso said, “The one who would support me in my old age is gone. He was the most hardworking… Police shot my child….” District Magistrate Rajeev Sharma said that while Amresh was killed by a bullet, it is being investigated who fired at him. On whether the family will receive compensation, he said: “It is not in my knowledge.”