Andhra Pradesh

Pawan Kalyan condemns attack on Dalit woman who was stripped, beaten up by ‘TDP men’

Written by : TNM Staff

Days after a Dalit woman was dragged, stripped and assaulted allegedly by TDP workers, Jana Sena leader Pawan Kalyan has spoken out on the issue and demanded action.

On Tuesday, a Dalit woman was assaulted and beaten up in Vishakhapatnam district, allegedly by TDP workers, after which seven men were arrested.

The men assaulted and stripped the woman reportedly after she objected to the digging of a pit at Jerripothulapalem village in Visakhapatnam district.

Deeply disturbed by what he heard and saw, actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan took to Twitter on Saturday to urge the Andhra Pradesh government to take action against the perpetrators.

In a series of tweets, Pawan not only asked the authorities to not remain mute spectators, he reminded them about Rohith Vemula, and how “it shook up the entire nation.”

“In such incidents atrocities done by few individuals on one helpless victim or a group will get a caste colour, though the rest of the community has nothing to do with it. Crimes done by individuals on others will eventually be portrayed as community clashes,” he tweeted, asking the community leaders of the caste the perpetrators belong to, to address and publicly condemn the issue.

He also said that he would be sending members of Jana Sena to meet the victim to understand what happened, and ensure that she gets justice.

After the incident, Greater Visakhapatnam CPI General Secretary M Pydiraju had told TNM that the incident had occurred because the TDP workers were destroying crops that the Dalit families, who were engaged in agriculture, had been working on.

Dalit families in the area were engaged in agriculture after the government had assigned the land to them. “All of a sudden, yesterday (Tuesday) evening, TDP workers brought JCB machines and destroyed crops that were being cultivated. Because of this, the enraged Dalits protested. In retaliation, they assaulted her and tore her clothes,” Pydiraju said.

The investigating officer had told TNM that it was only a land dispute, and not a caste issue.

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