Members of a right-wing organisation beat up a Dalit family in Tukkanatti village near Gokak in Belagavi district after accusing them of converting neighbours to Christianity.
Five members of the family, including three women, were injured in the attack. A woman, who suffered burn injuries, and the others were treated at a government hospital and a private hospital in nearby Mudalagi town.
Police have booked seven of the alleged attackers under of the SC and ST (Prevention of atrocities) Act and some provisions of the Indian Penal Code. The alleged attack took place on December 29, 2021.
The accused are Shivanand Gotur, Ramesh Dandapur, Parasappa Babu, Fakirappa Bagewadi and Krishna Kanitkar from Tukkanatti village, Chetan Gadadi from Kankanawadi, and Mahantesh Hattaraki from Hattaraki.
A written complaint submitted by Kavita Karaganavi describes the attack in detail.
According to the complaint, the group entered the house of Kavita and Akshay Kumar Karaganavi around 1 p.m. They accused the couple of organising Bible prayers with the intention of converting the neighbours and villagers to Christianity by allurement, force and fraud.
The accused allegedly called women of the Karaganavi family and their cousins, the Vyapari family, ‘professional sex workers’ and the men as children of ‘professional sex workers’. They beat up Akshay and his nephew Sudhakar Vyapari.
The accused assaulted Kavita, Bharati and Mahadevi, abused their caste and accused them of lacking character.
Another accused, Shivanand Gotur, tore the saree and inner garment of Mahadevi Jogi, accusing her of being a commercial sex worker.
Parasappa Gudagol pushed Bharati Vyapari. He took hot sambar from the stove and and threw it at her. He also hit her knee with the sambar vessel. The victim suffered burn injuries. She is under treatment in Mudalagi.
Ramesh Dandaur, one of the accused, snatched a gold chain belonging to Sudhakar.
Before leaving, the group threatened to ‘burn them to death’ if they tried converting again, according to the complaint.
“They abused our caste as a group of toilet cleaners and chappal makers, and that we were betraying the Hindu faith that were born into,” Akshay Karaganavi told the investigators, a police officer said.
The police have booked a case under the Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989 and the Atrocities Act amendment ordinance of 2014.
Apart from this, the First Information Report also contains charges under Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly with common criminal intention), 322 (causing hurt), 326 (causing grievous hurt by dangerous means), 341 (wrongful restraint), 354 (outraging the modesty of woman), 392 (robbery), 448 (house trespass), 504 (insult and provocation), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.