Steaming 'dal' poured on dalit woman

PATNA: Steaming 'dal' was poured on a dalit woman and her infant daughter while several others were beaten up for allowing their children to play in the premises of a temple here, police said on Saturday.

One Ramavtar Yadav, a retired railway employee and resident of Shahpur, his sons, a relative and few others scalded the woman and her child and beat up three women and some children at Shivayalay Mushari, on the outskirts of Patna on Friday.

Yadav had objected to the dalit children playing in the campus of the temple and had an altercation with their mothers.

He then summoned his two sons Sanjay and Dinesh, one of whom said to be close to a local gangster Ritlal Yadav, and others and attacked the dalits.

On finding the woman Gyanti Devi cooking with her infant in her lap, they picked up the utensil and poured the steaming 'dal' on her back. Some of which spilled on to the child.

They also mercilessly beat up three dalit women identified as Gauri, Kamla and Usha, besides some children playing in the temple premises.

A case under Atrocities on Scheduled Castes (Prevention) Act was registered against the attackers late last night, Superintendent of Police (Rural) Upendra Kumar Sinha said.

Yadav was arrested and efforts were on to apprehend the others, he added.