Dalit teenagers were allegedly subjected to brutal assault and torture in Chhattisgarh’s Korba district by the owner of the ice cream factory where they worked, along with his associates.
Abhishek and his friend Vinod Bhambi, 18, from Rajasthan’s Bhilwara district, were stripped, beaten, subjected to electric shocks, had their nails pulled out, and were verbally assaulted with casteist slurs.
The victims managed to escape and file a complaint in Bhilwara, which was later transferred to the Korba police for further investigation.
A disturbing video of the incident has gone viral on social media, showing a semi-nude man pleading before a group of men who ignored his cries, brutally beat him, administered electric shocks, while others filmed the assault.
A case was registered at the Civil Lines police station against the accused, identified as Gurjar and Sharma, under Sections 127(2) (punishment for wrongful confinement), 115(2) (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), and 308(2) (punishment for extortion) of the BNS, and Section 3(2)(v-a) (commits any offence specified in the Schedule, against a person or property, knowing that such person is a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe or such property belongs to such member) of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The victims were hired through a contractor to work at the ice cream factory owned by Chhotu Gurjar in the Khaprabhatti area, under the Civil Lines police station limits.
According to the victims, they had worked for two months without pay after being promised ₹10,000 a month. When they demanded their pending salaries from Chhotu Gurjar, they were allegedly assaulted.
“They started abusing us, stripped us of our clothes, beat us and pulled the fingers of our legs with pliers. They also pulled our private parts with pliers and as we screamed, they gave us shocks with electric wire and also made a video of the incident,” says the FIR registered in the incident.
Siddharth Tewari, Korba district police chief, told TNIE that the Rajasthan Police had registered a “zero” FIR and forwarded the case to the Korba police for further action.
“The FIR was lodged around 9 AM on Friday, and the Korba police acted swiftly, arresting five accused seen in the video by noon,” he said.
He added that the arrested individuals would be produced before the court. “Two of those arrested are believed to be the factory owners, while the others are their associates. One of the accused is a minor.”
Bhanwar Meghwanshi, the Rajasthan President of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, highlighted the systemic exploitation of Dalit migrant workers, emphasizing that the incident occurred on the birth anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.
“On the very day when the birth anniversary of the architect of the Indian Constitution, the craftsman of modern India, the liberator of the oppressed, the deprived, and women, the symbol of knowledge, the global gem Baba Saheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar was being celebrated — on that same day, two Dalit youths from Rajasthan (Abhishek Bhambi and Vinod Bhambi) were stripped naked and subjected to inhuman torture in Chhattisgarh’s Korba district for demanding their wages,” he wrote on X.
He said, “This is not just cruelty, this is caste-based terror!”
“While garlands were being offered to Baba Saheb’s pictures, Dalit youths were being stripped and tortured — is this the ‘New India’? Why are the governments of Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan silent? Is the life of a Dalit worth nothing?” he asked.
Suresh Meghwanshi, a social worker and journalist associated with Bhim Army Rajasthan, stated, “Incidents like these are continuously increasing in the district under a mute and deaf government, and the administration is negligent. If immediate action and relief are not provided to the victims, Bhim Army will be forced to take the path of agitation.”
