Kasganj/Lucknow, Oct 8 (PTI) A Dalit man allegedly committed suicide in Kasganj a day after he was removed from the audience at a Ramlila programme by police personnel.
Reacting to the incident, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav slammed the ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh for “humiliating” minority communities. He claimed that the police took the step because “the Dalit man sat on a chair near the stage”.
Police, however, said the 45-year-old man was escorted out of the event after the organisers urged them to remove him as he was drunk.
The body of Ramesh Chandra, aged about 45 years, was found hanging at his home in the Salempur Bibi area under the Soron police station limits on Monday morning, the Kasganj police said in a statement.
They said there was no mention of marks of any kind of injury in the post-mortem report and the matter was being probed by Additional Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kumar Bhartiya.
Further action will be taken on the basis of the investigation and the complaint application given by the man’s family members, they said.
Giving out details of the incident that occurred at the Ramlila performance, police said, “All members of the Ramlila organising committee gave an application to the SHO of Soron saying Ramesh came and sat on the stage during the programme in a drunken state. The organisers and villagers asked the policemen present there to remove him, immediately after which both his nephews Dhara Singh and Munendra took him home.” “The organisers said he had been coming to the Ramlila programme after consuming alcohol for the last two to three days. The villagers also said that on October 7 morning, Ramesh got up and cleaned his house, and after some time, it was reported that he had committed suicide,” they added.
The police further said that both PRV personnel who were involved in the incident have been shunted to police lines with immediate effect.
Meanwhile, Yadav on Tuesday said the news of a Dalit man committing suicide in Kasganj after being humiliated and beaten by police for sitting on a chair near the stage while watching Ramlila is extremely sad and worrisome.
“The audacity of treating PDA (pichhde, Dalit, alpsankhyak) in such a humiliating manner is the result of the hegemonic thinking that is being promoted under the BJP government, which is celebrating the so-called ‘Amrit Kaal’ of Independence,” he posted on X in Hindi.
“The physical humiliation of the PDA community is part of a big psychological conspiracy to mentally weaken the people of PDA. It has become a habit of the UP BJP government to cover up such incidents. Highly condemnable,” Yadav added. PTI KIS IJT
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