Upper caste man attempts to rape Dalit girl; crushes her mother, aunt to death for saving her

Ghaziabad, Jun 26: Two Dalit women were killed and two of their male relatives seriously injured when a car ran over them in the Chandpur area of Bulandshahr on Monday night.

While the police initially described it as an accident, the relatives of the women alleged that local hooligan Nakul Thakur, an upper caste man, and his four unidentified accomplices deliberately ran over Urmila Devi, 42, and Santo Devi, 38, after Ms. Urmila’s daughter, Saroj, 22 (name changed) spurned Mr. Nakul’s advances.

The irate family members blocked NH 91 for three hours.

In the FIR, Ramvir Singh, a relative of the victim, complained that around 10 p.m., Mr. Nakul tried to molest and abduct Saroj. When the family and relatives foiled his attempt, he returned with his friends in a car and ran over her mother, her aunt (Santo), her cousin Jitendra, 20, and Tribhuvan, a close relative.

Mr. Singh also alleged that Mr. Nakul showered the family with casteist slurs. Locals said that during the altercation, Mr. Jitendra had slapped Mr. Nakul and the latter warned the family to be prepared to face the consequences.

The victims were taken to the government hospital, where the women died during treatment.

Bulandshahr SSP N. Kolanchi said that CCTV footage from a nearby mall suggested that it was a case of accident but when the relatives described it as targetted killing, relevant sections of the IPC and Section 3(2)V of SC/ST Act were added to the FIR.