A police officer was killed yesterday when violence broke out at a demonstration in Gujarat to protest an attack on Dalit villagers by cow protection vigilantes.
Police fired teargas shells and used sticks to try to control stone-throwing crowds angered by attempts to stop them from demonstrating.
Hundreds of people have been detained as authorities try to contain the unrest, which began on Monday and has since spread.
One senior officer was fatally wounded in yesterday’s clashes and several more suffered minor injuries, Superintendent of Police J A Patel said.
The protests erupted after video footage emerged of an attack last week on four Dalit villagers who were taking a dead cow to be skinned in Una town.
Cows are considered sacred by Hindus and killing them is banned in Gujarat, but the villagers said the animal had died of natural causes. Local lawmaker Shambhu Prasad Tundiya said the violence was a sign of frustration among low-caste Hindus after years of discrimination by people from higher castes who often went unpunished.
“Such atrocities by upper-caste people on Dalits have been happening time and again since ages. This is unacceptable,” Tundiya told reporters.
Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel meanwhile said 16 people had now been arrested over the attack and appealed for calm after a series of apparent attempted suicides among Dalits.
“I appeal to Dalit youth to not resort to desperate measures like attempting suicide & assure them that govt is with Una victims,” she tweeted.
“Govt will make sure accused will face a speedy trial.”
The video showed the four half-naked men tied to a car as the activists took turns to thrash them with belts and batons at a crowded marketplace.
Two more Dalits were beaten up after they tried to save the other four. Yesterday five more Dalits allegedly tried to commit suicide in two separate incidents.
Within 24 hours of seven youngsters attempting suicide, three consumed some poisonous substance in Bantva of Junagadh district.
Two youths tried to kill themselves in Gondal town, where five people had attempted suicide on Monday besides two in Jamkandorna, both of Rajkot district. They have been moved to Gondal Civil Hospital.
The state transport authority cancelled buses on several routes in Rajkot, Porbandar and Junagadh districts.
Members from the Bhartiya Dalit Panther Group activist group protest against an earlier attack on Dalits Una, in Ahmedabad yesterday.
