Faridabad Dalit youth assault: police say no threat perception as his family cries foul over rejection of gun licence

“We still have not received any security. I had applied for a gun licence, but the file has been marked ‘not recommended’. For a gun licence in Haryana, applications are now made and processed online. I went to the assistant commissioner of police in Ballabgarh and also lodged complaints at various places. They said they cannot provide us with a gunman,” Suraj told The Indian Express.

When contacted, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Ballabgarh) Jitesh Malhotra said they had not received any threat perception inputs to order security cover to the family.

“The Station House Officer’s report indicated no threats faced by them. Security cover is issued based on these inputs,” said Malhotra.

Earlier, the family had claimed that Sahil was discharged from a private hospital despite having serious injuries, including a fracture and internal bleeding, without surgery or additional treatment.

After Sahil had returned home limping after the assault, the family alleged the accused had hurled casteist slurs at Sahil. In his complaint, Suraj alleged the four accused “kept the teenager hostage in a room… cut his hair, eyebrows, moustache and beard, turned him upside down and beat him with sticks and an iron rod”.

The police had earlier said there was no caste angle. The FIR, though, invoked the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, among other charges. Sahil’s family is from the Jatav caste.

The medico-legal report had found that he had sustained 12 wounds, 10 of which were blunt force impact ones needing orthopaedic assessment, and two ‘simple’ ones caused by a sharp object.