Karnataka: Dalits assaulted over drinking water by upper caste men

The group of men who assaulted two Dalit youngsters included Gram Panchayat members

Even as the Congress continues to launch attacks on BJP over the lack of protection to Dalit in states where it is in power, the scenario is not very different in Congress-ruled Karnataka. Two Dalit men were assaulted by a group of upper caste men in Koppal of Karnataka over drinking water units.

A group of 25 upper caste men barged into a Dalit colony in Jeerala Kulgudi village of Gangavati Taluk in Koppal and damaged a drinking water installation and locked up the unit. The group even assaulted two men who questioned the move. As part of its clean drinking water in rural Karnataka scheme, the government had inaugurated a water purifier unit in the Dalit colony just eight days ago.

Angered that the installation was made in the Dalit colony and not in the area where people belonging to upper castes reside, men from the community broke down the water pipes and shut the unit down. The group of 25 men who assaulted the Dalit youths included members of gram panchayat identified as Manjunath and Veerupaknagouda. The group, Dalit residents claimed, took offence to supply of drinking water from a unit that was installed in the Dalit colony.

OneIndia News