Karnataka coffee estate owner booked for ‘holding’ over dozen Dalits, including children, captive

Jagadish Gowda allegedly held a group captive after workers refused to work for him, protesting his abuse. A woman’s mother claimed her daughter had an abortion due to the assault.

Representational image of a coffee plantation | Commons

Chilkamagaluru: A coffee estate owner allegedly held over a dozen Dalits captive for a day after beating them in a village near here, police said on Tuesday.

Police have registered a case against coffee estate owner Jagadish Gowda and his son Tilak under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Prevention of Atrocities Against SC-ST Act.

A woman, who allegedly suffered injuries, said two weeks before beating the victims, Gowda had a fight with her brother-in-law over some petty issue related to children.

The estate owner allegedly verbally abused the children, she told reporters, adding her sister scolded him over it.

When my brother-in-law too questioned the Gowda, he started beating the Dalit family, the woman said.

“The next day we didn’t go to work. When he (Jagadish Gowda) asked us the reason, we told him that we will not work because you beat us. He then held us captive for a day till my mother freed us,” she said.

The woman’s mother alleged that her daughter had an abortion due to the assault. -PTI