Muzaffarnagar- In a brutal incident of Dalit atrocity, a 21-year-old Dalit man was allegedly beaten to death after being held hostage over a “love affair” in the Khatauli block of Muzaffarnagar district in western Uttar Pradesh. The incident took place in Jasola village on Sunday night, the police said on Monday, adding that the victim was identified as Ankit. A case has been registered against unidentified accused under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC and relevant sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Ankit was allegedly having an affair with a 30-year-old married woman belonging to the same village but of a different caste. The deceased was beaten to death after being held hostage.

Ravi Shankar, the Circle Officer of the Khatauli circle, told The Mooknayak, “On the night of 7th January, Ankit Singh, son of Ranvir Singh, had gone with his friend to a place where people held him hostage and beat him. After learning about Ankit, his family members dialled 112, after which the police reached the spot, and Ankit was rescued. There were marks of injury on his body, and he was rushed to the hospital in Khatauli, where he was declared brought dead. After the post-mortem, his body was given to the family members who conducted his last rites. He informed that a case has been registered under sections 302 and SC/ST Act (Prevention of Atrocities) against the accused, which includes the husband of the woman with whom the deceased allegedly was having an affair. Furthermore, three teams have been set up for the investigation of the matter.

According to the NCRB figures, the state of Uttar Pradesh topped the list of crimes against Dalits in the year 2022 with 15,368 cases.

The Citizen’s Vigilance and Monitoring Committee came up with a report in October 2023 that reveals the grim reality of the society. The first-ever 'Citizen's Audit of the Union Report under Section 21(4) of The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989,' exposes the distressing experiences members of various Scheduled communities across the nation face.

The report puts everyone’s doubts to rest. It exposes the fact that the crimes against Dalits and Adivasis in the country are on the rise, more so since 2016.

According to the report, in 2021, fifty-nine thousand crimes were recorded against people from the scheduled castes. In 2016, the number was forty thousand, eight hundred and one, an increase of almost ten thousand crimes in a period of 6 years. Crimes against people from the Scheduled Tribes rose from six thousand, five hundred and sixty-eight in 2016 to eight thousand, eight hundred and two in 2021.

Uttar Pradesh tops the list for the greatest number of atrocities recorded in 2021 against Dalits, and Madhya Pradesh achieves the first rank in a similar list for Adivasis, according to data. The overall crime rate against the scheduled communities has been on the rise since 2016, with 2021 marking the third consecutive year in which over a thousand from the scheduled communities were murdered in inter-community crime.