In March, a court in Gujarat acquitted 35 men accused of partially stripping and flogging four Dalits after falsely accusing them of killing cows in Una in Gir Somnath district 10 years ago.
The incident was seen at the time as a stark illustration of the atrocities that Dalit communities continued to face at the hands of non-Dalits in many parts of the country.
Months after the acquittal, the complainant in the case, who was himself a victim of the 2016 atrocity, is seeking financial assistance from well-wishers so he can pursue his appeal in the High Court.
The last hearing on Vashram Sarvaiya’s appeal against the March 16 order of the Veraval sessions court took place on July 20. A division Bench of the Gujarat High Court asked the registry to get the records of the proceedings in the trial court, and posted the matter for hearing on August 25.
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“Over the last 10 years, we have had to incur a lot of expenses to pursue this case. Our sources of income are limited. For a decade, we did not ask for help, but now we need it and I have appealed to society. We will need money to fight in the High Court and, if needed, in the Supreme Court as well,” Vashram told The Indian Express.
On behalf of his family, Vashram has been sending out WhatsApp messages since July 11, 2026 to people he knows, asking for financial help to be sent directly to a bank account through UPI. He has also been calling and sending message to these people.
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Among other things, his message in Gujarati reads, “Aaje aa parivar arthik rite bhangi tutyo chhe. Jo aa ladai ma samaj sahbhagi bani ful nahi to ful ni pankhadi no bhagidar banshe to High Court Supreme Court ma ladai khub majboot svaman swabhiman ni ladai ma jeet melvi shakishu. High Court ane Supreme Court ma apane janie chhie ke khoob mota praman kharcha thata hoy chhe tyare aaje aa case ni javabdari samaj ni samjine sath, sahyog aapi aa pidit parivar ne ane samaj ne nyay apavie. [Today, this family is financially completely broken. If the community comes together and contributes even a modest amount—a petal if not a flower—we will be able to win this fight for dignity and self-respect in the High Court and Supreme Court. As we know, proceedings in the High Court and Supreme Court involve very heavy expenses. Therefore, considering this case to be the community’s collective responsibility, let us offer our help, support, and cooperation to secure justice for this victim family and our society.]”
According to Vashram, since July 11, 2026, he has sent such messages to around 30 persons in Gujarat and 10 of them have made contributions.
Impressions about the Dalit men who were involved in the 2016 incident continue to impact their avenues of finding work, Vashram said.
“If we go asking for work, people look at us as though we were the ones who were slaughtering the cow. It happened many times, and so we have now stopped going out to look for work,” he said.
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Skinning animal carcasses is the traditional occupation of the Dalit Sarvaiya community to which Vashram belongs. On July 11, 2016, Vashram and two of his relatives were skinning dead cows – one of which had been killed by a lion – on the outskirts of Mota Samadhiyala village of Una tehsil in Gir Somnath district, when a group of men claiming to be gau rakshaks arrived in two vehicles and accused them of killing the cows.
The Dalits were tied up and assaulted with sticks and iron rods. Vashram and three others, Bechar, Ashok, and Ramesh, were taken to Una town where they were again beaten and flogged publicly.
There was outrage across the country after videos of the assault circulated on social media. Then Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel visited the Sarvaiyas. Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani led a protest that eventually catapulted him into the Gujarat Assembly.
Forty-one people were put on trial in the case, including four policemen from Una police station. One of them, then Police Inspector Nirmalsinh Zala died during the trial.
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On March 16 this year, Veraval Additional Sessions Judge Jignesh Pandya convicted five accused and acquitted 35, including the three policemen who faced charges of abetment, neglect, framing an incorrect document with intent to cause injury, and forgery of public records.
A disappointed Vashram Sarvaiya had told The Indian Express at the time, “This is a sad judgment and we are not satisfied with it. We will challenge it in the High Court and up to the Supreme Court.”
Vashram said last month that he was now seeking help from those who believed in “humanity”. He said he estimated that at least Rs 2 lakh would be needed immediately to pursue the case in the High Court. Depending on the time for which the litigation drags on, and whether the matter reaches the Supreme Court, the expenses could be significantly higher.
At a state-level ‘Justice and Solidarity Convention’ organised at the Mangal Pandey Auditorium in Ahmedabad on July 11 to mark 10 years of the flogging incident, Balu Sarvaiya, the father of Vashram and Ramesh Sarvaiya, said they would continue to fight for justice for as long as they were alive.
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“After ten years of struggle, our case was hushed up at the Veraval sessions court… We are angry, and we want to fight. We have moved the High Court; we will take it up to the Supreme Court if we have to. We will fight for as long as we live. If even the Supreme Court doesn’t give us justice, we will then agitate against the government,” Balu Sarvaiya said.
Vashram said he had asked for help from “people who have been fighting for the [Dalit] community”. “I am also reaching out to people from other communities who believe in humanity. If needed, I will post a video on social media making an appeal for help,” he said.
The accused too had created a fund to help them carry on the legal battle, Vashram said. “They have also received clandestine support from political organisations,” he said.
The five individuals who were convicted by the Veraval court on charges including voluntarily causing hurt using dangerous weapons, wrongful confinement, intentional insult to provoke breach of peace, and humiliating members of Scheduled Caste communities, were identified as Ramesh Jadav, Rakesh Joshi, Nagjibhai Vaniya, Pramodgiri Gausvami, and Balvantgiri Gausvami.
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Vashram said members of his family have been visiting other victims of caste atrocity across the state to express their gratitude for the support from the Dalit community that they received in 2016. “We got so much support from the community, and we must visit others who faced similar atrocities in the state,” he said.
Vashram said his family does not own any land, and their only reliable source of income is the sale of the milk of a cow and a buffalo that they own. The family includes Vashram and his wife, their daughter, a younger brother and younger sister, and their parents.
The sale of milk earns them only around Rs 350 every day, Vashram said. The family’s income was reduced after one of the two cows they reared was killed by a lion some months ago.
Lion populations have colonised areas near Una tehsil in Gir Somnath district since at least the early 2000s as part of a broader trend of Asiatic lions recolonising coastal areas outside the protected Gir forest. Ironically for Vashram’s family, the 2016 incident took place after the alleged cow vigilantes accused them of killing cattle that included a cow that had been killed by lions.
