In Akhilesh's UP, upper-caste man beheads Dalit couple over Rs 15

Regardless of the recent street protests in Gujarat and the uproar in Parliament over anti-Dalit atrocities, violent crimes against the downtrodden low-castes show no letup in the country. In the latest assault, an upper-caste man beheaded a low-caste couple in Uttar Pradesh over a Rs 15 row, police said. Bharat Singh and his wife were walking towards their field for their daily farm labour when a village shopkeeper, Ashok Mishra, encountered them. Mishra wanted the pair to repay Rs 15 they owed to him.

MURDER EVOKES SHARP POLITICAL REACTION

Within minutes, he turned furious and killed Singh and his wife with his axe, police said. The attack occurred at Lakhmipur village of Mainpuri district, the stronghold of Uttar Pradesh's ruling Yadav family. Relatives wailed around the severed bodies as district magistrate Pramod Gupta promised strictest possible action against the suspect. Mishra, he said, was taken into custody and charged with murder. The victims belonged to the Nat caste. Their alleged attacker is a Brahmin. The murder evoked a sharp political reaction. "It is one of the most heinous things that have happened," said BSP leader Sudhindra Bhadoria. "It speaks volumes about the law-and-order situation in the state. Eventually, I would like to say the whole nation should stand up against these atrocities," he told India Today TV.

"This repression should pinch the conscious of each citizen," Bhadoria continued. He accused SP and BJP of pursuing anti-Dalit and anti-minority policies as he cited the case of four low-caste men earlier this month at Una in Gujarat. "Both the SP and the BJP are hand in glove trying to suppress the poor, the Dalits and the minorities," Bhadoria alleged.

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