Dalit man forced to apologise with shoes on head in Rajasthan’s Chittorgarh, three held

UDAIPUR/JAIPUR: An elderly Dalit man was forced to apologise in front of the village panchayat by putting shoes upon his head in Dugaar village in Begun area of Chittorgarh district on September 16, a video of which recently surfaced on social media and after Dalit activists took up the matter, police registered a case on Monday night against seven persons under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The police arrested three persons identified as Sukhdev, Dinesh and Behru Lal.
People of the village are seen in the video sitting around the old man, who is standing with a bundle of shoes upon his head and apologising repeatedly with folded hands. After his apology, people tell him to sit down.
SHO (Parsoli) Devendra Kumar said that after receiving a complaint, police filed a case against seven persons, all residents of Dugaar and nearby villages. Kumar said that the Dalit man, Dalu Salvi, is about 70 years old and earns a living by reciting stories of the deity of a local community. During one of his recitations, Salvi allegedly made remarks about a goddess that offended members of the Gurjar community, Kumar said. The officer said that initially there was little attention paid to his remarks during the recitation. However, things escalated when a video of the event began circulating on social media, drawing angry responses from some quarters.