A tribal man was among three people arrested in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh district for allegedly beating a Dalit man to death on Sunday morning, suspecting him of attempting to steal rice. The incident occurred in Dumarpalli village around 2 am, with the main suspect, Virendra Sidar, 50, claiming that he was awoken by the noise and saw the victim, Panchram Sarthi alias Butu, 50, attempting to steal a sack of rice from his home. Sidar called his neighbours, Ajay Pradhan (42) and Ashok Pradhan (44), and together, they tied Sarthi to a tree.
The village sarpanch alerted the police in the morning, and when a police team arrived at 6 am, they found Sarthi unconscious and still tied to the tree. According to police sources, Sarthi had been beaten with bamboo sticks and physically assaulted. The three suspects have been booked for murder under Section 103 (1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), with the police now investigating the involvement of additional individuals.
The case has sparked controversy, with activists urging the police to apply Section 103 (2) of BNS, which addresses mob lynching. This provision defines mob lynching as a murder committed by a group of five or more people based on factors such as race, caste, community, or other similar grounds, and it prescribes severe penalties, including death or life imprisonment. Lawyer and activist Degree Prasad Chouhan described the incident as a case of mob lynching.
However, a senior police officer countered that the case does not meet the criteria outlined in Section 103 (2) of BNS. The investigation is ongoing to determine if more individuals were involved in the assault.
