Indian teacher beheads Dalit man over minor issue
Shares
DEHRADUN, India (APP) - An Indian teacher beheaded a Dalit man after an argument over his use of a flour mill, a senior police officer said Friday, the latest in a spate of attacks on members of the country's lowest caste.
The teacher became angry when he saw 35-year-old Sohan Ram using the flour mill in northern Uttarakhand state and accused him of making it "impure", the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
Even though the concept of untouchability has been outlawed in India some Hindus still believe that contact with a person of low caste will render them impure.
"Sohan Ram was abused for using the flour mill and when he protested he was attacked by a sickle," police superintendent Sukhbir Singh told.
"We have arrested the accused under various sections of the IPC (Indian Penal Code)."
Dalits, formerly known as "untouchables", are commonly tasked with menial jobs under India's deeply entrenched social hierarchy.
