Lucknow: In a gruesome incident, two Dalit youths were set on fire on Wednesday while they were sleeping, in Dumri village in Chaura Chauri area in Gorakhpur district in Uttar Pradesh.
According to reports, Santosh Paswan, 26, and Narmada Paswan, 30, were sleeping outside the cement pipe factory that belongs to Rajdev Paswan, a relative and former zila panchayat member, when about half a dozen persons came and doused them with petrol.
Before the two could realise what was happening, the assailants set them on fire. Hearing their screams, the villagers rushed to the spot and extinguished the flames. Mr Paswan took the victims to the BRD Medical College from where they were referred to the PGI in Lucknow.
Santosh Paswan died during treatment and Narmada is still battling for life. A senior doctor at the PGI said that chances of survival were negligible since both had suffered over 90 per cent burns. According to family members, the incident is a result of panchayat election rivalry.
The victims are related to Rajdev Paswan whose wife Roopa Devi was defeated by Munni Devi, wife of Radhey Shyam Maurya in the panchayat polls, held earlier this year.
“Ever since we opposed the Maurya family during elections, they have been threatening to teach us a lesson. This incident is a result of that rivalry”, said Kamladev Paswan, brother of Rajdev Paswan.
Dalits not safe in UP
- 8,358 reports of crimes against SC community members in 2015 in UP. UP tops in crimes against dalits
- 3.5% increase from 2014 when the number of cases were 8075, says National Crime Records Bureau
- 45,003 is the nationwide figure in 2015 A decline of 4.51 per cent from 47,064 in 2014
