A family belonging to the Scheduled Caste was brutally attacked by members of an upper-caste community over a disputed farmland in Kalva village of Gautampura, Indore on Friday night. Sadly, the attack led to the death of a 60-year-old man, Mayaram Singh, while seven others sustained injuries.
As per the report by TOI, DIG Chandrashekhar Solanki stated that the injured victims were identified as Shantilal (40), Meherban (35), Sanju Bai (40), Sangeeta (35), Hukum (55), and Ramesh (62). The group had gone to their farmland when a group of men, including Babu Rajput, Tufan, Pawan, Nagu, and Jitendra, arrived there and started a quarrel with them. The situation worsened when over two dozen more men arrived at the scene and attacked the family members.
All the injured were immediately taken to the MY hospital for treatment, where Mayaram Singh passed away due to his injuries on Friday night. The family members claimed that Babu Singh had illegally encroached on Mayaram’s land.
Following the incident, a relative of the victims, Lakhan Solanki, informed the police about the incident, and a case of rioting was registered against the accused on Thursday. After the death of Mayaram Singh, sections of murder were added to the case.
The incident highlights the age-old problem of land ownership disputes and caste-based violence that still prevails in India. Shockingly, the recent 2011 census shows that 71% of the scheduled caste population in the farming sector does not own land and instead works as bonded labor on dominant castes’ farms.
