Three persons, who allegedly beat up Dalit teenagers in Andhra Pradesh, accusing them of stealing hens, were arrested by the West Godavari district police. The accused were identified as Kota Anjaneyulu, Kota Nagaraju and Modhuga Somaraju. They belonged to the Kapu caste, a dominant community, while the victims belonged to the Mala community, categorised as Scheduled Caste in the state.
The accused were booked under Sections 323 (Voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 342 (Wrongful confinement) and 363 (Kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), along with Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
On January 18, the victims — Venkateswara Rao, Santosh, Praveen and Balu — residents of Gorthupadu, were on their way to a nearby village. They had halted at a shop in Lakshmi Ganapavari Gudem village after they ran out of fuel. Suspecting their actions, the shopkeeper questioned if they were trying to steal petrol from her store and further called other locals to question them if they were the suspected thieves stealing hens in the village, the police said.
Following this, the police said that the accused and other locals forcibly detained the victims at a farm belonging to the prime accused. While others were let off later, Praveen was detained for a whole night. He was beaten and coerced into naming his “partners” involved in the alleged theft.
The following day, the police said that the accused dragged Santosh out from his house. The victims were tied to a tree and flogged brutally. The barbarity was filmed by onlookers which then found its way on social media. In the incident, the victims suffered injuries to legs, shoulders and back.
The incident came to light on Wednesday after the videos went viral. One of the victims, speaking from the hospital, said that the accused threatened to kill them if they did not confess before the police that they were involved in the theft of the chickens.