Dalit ragpicker beaten to death by factory workers in Rajkot, wife’s condition critical

A Dalit ragpicker was allegedly beaten to death allegedly by some unidentified persons of a factory at Shapar village in Rajkot district on Sunday morning, over the issue of collecting scraps in the area.

A video of a man being mercilessly thrashed while being tied to a wall has gone viral on social media platforms. The man in the video is being described to be a Dalit man, who reportedly succumbed to his injuries later. The deceased has been identified as Mukesh Vaniya, a native of Parnala village of Surendranagar district.

Dalit youth leader and independent MLA from Gujarat Jignesh Mevani posted the video on both his Facebook and Twitter pages. He wrote on Twitter, "'Mr. Mukesh Vaniya belonging to a scheduled caste was miserably thrashed and murdered by factory owners in Rajkot and his wife was brutally beaten up'. #GujaratIsNotSafe4Dalit".

'Mr. Mukesh Vaniya belonging to a scheduled caste was miserably thrashed and murdered by factory owners in Rajkot and his wife was brutally beaten up'.#GujaratIsNotSafe4Dalit pic.twitter.com/ffJfn7rNSc

— Jignesh Mevani (@jigneshmevani80) May 20, 2018

"This is far more gruesome incident than Una. In Una, the victims were beaten up and humiliated. Whereas, here a man lost his life amidst caste violence. While, Mr. Mukesh Vaniya belonging to a scheduled caste was miserably thrashed and murdered by factory owners in Rajkot, his wife was brutally beaten up. The government of Gujarat has still not learned from its past mistakes," he wrote.

As per police officials, the incident happened between 6 and 9.30 am Sunday when Mukesh, his wife Jaya and one more acquaintance Savita were picking rags around Radadiya Factory at Shapar.

At this point, some five unidentified persons from the factory had an altercation with the three over "some issue" following which they allegedly beat up the three. While the women were kicked out of the area, they held back Mukesh, said police.

"We have registered a case against unidentified persons and are awaiting for the post-mortem results. The body had wounds that could have been caused by blunt objects like sticks. The investigation has been handed over to a Deputy Superintendent of Police rank officer," Sindhu added.