Davangere: Huchangi Prasad, a dalit boy and a student pursuing a journalism course at Davanagere University was attacked by a group of men for writing against the caste system perceived to be anti-Hindu at Davanagere on Thursday.
The 23-year-old Dalit writer had published a controversial book last year. It is learnt that since then he has faced several threats. The book comprised prose and poetry revolving around treatment of Dalits in the country.
According to sources, the complaint filed by the writer stated that on Thursday, an unidentified man came to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe hostel at the university. He told the boy that his mother had been hospitalised after a cardiac arrest. Shocked over this, he followed the man who assured him to take him to hospital. But the boy was taken to an isolated place and a group of eight men attacked him.
“They surrounded me and started to push me around. They said my writings were anti-Hindu as I talked about the caste system. They even put kumkum all over my face. They pulled out a knife and said they will cut my fingers off so I can never write again,” Prasad told The Hindu.
He managed to escape from the attackers and ran into the nearby woods, where he hid himself. Hours later, when he was certain that the group had left, he fled to the hostel. He later filed the police complaint.
Police have registered a case against the unidentified persons under attempt to murder (IPC 307) and under sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 as per the complaint filed.
The assault comes after rationalist writer M.M. Kalburgi was shot to death and when numerous writers across the country have raised their voice against rising intolerance.
Earlier on Wednesday, two dalit children were burnt alive by a upper caste men in Haryana.
Photo courtesy: The Hindu
