In a shocking incident that came to light on Wednesday, a Dalit woman was allegedly beaten and stripped by a group of people in Visakhapatnam. The incident happened on Monday when the woman tried to obstruct the ground-level work of a certain project in the Jerripothulapalem area, which falls under the Pendurthi police station limits.
Based on the complaint filed by the woman, the police have arrested seven out of the eight accused individuals. The victim has been admitted to the King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam.
As per a report in The Hindu, DCP T.Ravi Kumar Murthy informed that the government had recently allocated 0.7 acres in Survey Number 77 in the Jerripothulapalem area to 22 beneficiaries under the NTR Housing Scheme, with each of them getting 3.3 cents.
It has also been reported that the victim, along with several other Dalit families, cultivates the land which they claim to had been allotted to them by the government more than two decades ago. Also, the adjacent land was allotted to the Andhra Pradesh Beverages Corporation for a new project.
Things turned ugly on Monday when the victim and several others reached the locale and obstructed the foundation ceremony organised by the concerned officials. The verbal spat escalated into a grisly affair when the accused persons allegedly ended up beating up and stripping down the woman.
The News Minute quoted CPI, Greater Visakhapatnam secretary, M Pydiraju as saying, “There were many Dalit families in the area who had been engaged in agriculture in a land in survey number 77 after it was assigned to them by the government many years ago. 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.”
The Revenue officials have been instructed to resolve the issue immediately.
