After being caught out with his eyes shut (the jury is still out on whether he was napping, using his phone, enjoying the air-conditioning or listening to the Dalit debate attentively) in Parliament, Congress VP Rahul Gandhi met families of Dalit youth today.

The youth were those thrashed for allegedly skinning a dead cow in Gujarat's Una district.

Earlier in the day, Nationalist Congress Party MP Praful Patel also met the victims and assured help.

Protests escalated in Gujarat over the brutal thrashing of the Dalit youths in Una town even as incidents of violence were reported from several places across the state.

Enraged community members took out rallies in towns and cities, blocking roads, damaging buses and even a train was stopped near Vadhvan in Surendranagar district.