Man who lost thumb in ‘attack by upper caste men’ booked

On Sunday, Kirtibhai lost his thumb in an alleged attack by six upper caste men and an unknown person. The attack allegedly resulted from Kirtibhai’s eight-year old son, who was celebrating his birthday, reportedly interrupting a cricket match in the village by whisking away the ball.

The accused allegedly hurled casteist slurs at the boy, following which Dhirajbhai intervened and managed to put an end to the matter. However, the accused later allegedly attacked Kirtibhai at a tea stall with a sword and aimed for his stomach. In a bid to ward off the attack, Kirtibhai allegedly placed his hand in front, resulting in his thumb getting cut off.

The seven accused in the FIR lodged on Monday were booked on charges of rioting and criminal intimidation under the IPC as well as offences under Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

According to Siddhrajsinh’s complaint, he had gone to the tea stall for snacks when “Vankar Kirtibhai said that ‘my brother has settled with you, I haven’t’, and started hurling obscene abuses, got incited and from nearby gallas, got a sword and ran towards us to kill us when he injured his own right thumb and injured (me) with the sword near the elbow…”

When contacted, Dhirajbhai said, “A cross FIR has been filed against us by the main accused, Siddhrajsinh, who was the one carrying the sword and had attacked my brother. He had gotten himself admitted in the hospital on the day of the offence, got discharged, and again got himself admitted today after the police started making arrests.”

Sub-Inspector S B Solanki said four accused — Jasvantsinh Rajput, Kuldipsinh Rajput, Dilipsinh Rajput (not named in FIR) and Raju alias Rajdip Darbar — have been arrested.