Gujarat: He was a Dalit, and he had the guts to contest and win  the recent village panchayat elections, becoming a sarpanch in upper castes-dominated Varsada village, so they brutally murdered him.

A 25-year-old Jaysukh Madhad, a Dalit Sarpanch in a village in Amreli district of Gujarat, was hacked to death by people of other castes on Tuesday. Mr Madhad was attacked with sharp weapons like swords and knives and he was declared brought dead at civil hospital in Amreli town (March 1, The Hindu reports).

His brutal murder is reportedly connected with disputes in recently held village panchayat elections in which he won and became a sarpanch in upper castes-dominated Varsada village.

According to his relatives and family members, the villagers had warned him against contesting the panchayat polls.

Following the murder, the police have lodged an FIR naming three persons, who allegedly attacked him in the village.

“We have lodged the complaint and launched the probe,” a senior police official from Amreli said, adding “the police would soon arrest those connected with the murder.” However, there was arrest yet in connection with the case.

Meanwhile, the murder has shocked the Dalit community in the state. “Jaysukh Madhad was killed because he dared to be sarpanch of the village,” said Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani, who had spearheaded a month long agitation in Una where four Dalits were publicly flogged by a local vigilante group for skinning a dead cow.

(One reader’s reaction: Gujarat, the birth state of Mahatma Gandhi, where the ‘lower castes’ are still crushed… excuse me, is this India in the 21st century?)

  atrocities against dalits, crime, Dalits