45-yr-old Dalit Man Lynched in UP Over Rumour That He Was Selling His 16-yr-old Daughter

In a shocking incident, a man was beaten to death by a mob in Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri district on Tuesday. The 45-year-old Dalit man, identified as Sarvesh Diwakar, was lynched over accusations that he was trying to sell his teenage daughter. The deceased was a resident of Lalpur village of Firozabad district and had been living in Mainpuri’s Kharagji Nagar locality for about six years. Diwaker was a confectioner by profession.

Earlier, in Kushinagar on Monday, an angry mob thrashed a murder accused to death at a village allegedly in the presence of police which had arrived there.

During the festival of Rakshabandhan, his wife had gone to Kolkata with her two sons while Sarvesh had allegedly sent his 15-year-old daughter to Noida to live with relatives and study. Soon, rumours began circulating that he was selling his daughter. A few days ago, he had gotten embroiled in an altercation with some local youths. after which, Sarvesh was taken to the terrace of a building and beaten up by the miscreants. Upon receiving the information, the police reached the spot and admitted the injured Sarvesh to the district hospital, but he died on Monday morning. The police have arrested the accused.

Speaking to the media on the issue, SP Mainpuri, Ajay Kumar Pandey said, “Sarvesh had sent his daughter to an acquaintance’s house to study. The charges of his daughter being sold off are false. The police have arrested four people of the locality. Stringent action will be taken against the accused. All those who were involved in this conspiracy will also be sent behind bars. The case is being investigated.”

Opposition Samajwadi Party and the BSP sharpened its attack on the ruling BJP over the incident and called for justice to the victim’s family.

“Lynching of Dalit Sarvesh Diwakar in Mainpuri by goons of Bajrang Dal under patronage of the government is unfortunate. Condolences to his family. SP will give Rs 1 lakh to the victim’s family. Government should provide Rs 10 lakh to the family,” the party said.

Attacking the state government, BSP supremo Mayawati cited other incidents that had taken place in the state recently.

“Dalit Sarvesh was beaten to death in Mainpuri. Similar incidents of killing of Govind Chauhan in Maharajganj, Rajveer Maura in Shahjahanpur, Wasid in Bareilly, Sudhir Singh in Kushinagar and Vinod Garg in Banda are saddening,” she said in a tweet in Hindi.

“Similarly, cab driver’s murder in Noida and other incidents expose tall claims of the government on law and order in the state. The government should provide justice to the victim’s famliy and give them financial help,” she added in another tweet. It has been learnt that Sarvesh Diwakar, who used to run a food stall, was in financial trouble due to the lockdown and had decided to send his 16-year-old daughter to a relative’s place in Noida.

The incident comes a day after a mob caught hold of a murder suspect who was trying to flee the scene and thrashed him to death in Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar on Monday morning. After shooting at the teacher, the accused climbed onto the roof of the deceased’s house and began firing in the air. The police arrived on the spot to take the murder-accused into custody, however, when the news of the teacher’s demise reached the villagers, they corned the accused and lynched him in front of policemen.