Police in Rajasthan have arrested three people and several others are being questioned after a video of a Dalit ‘katha vachak’ (religious singer) from Chittorgarh district apologising to members of the Gujjar community by putting their shoes on his head went viral, officials said. According to the police, the elderly Dalit man seen in the video has been identified as Dalu Salvi (70), a singer who performs in religious programmes. An FIR has been registered, naming 10 people as accused on the basis of a complaint by Salvi after outrage by Dalit groups over the incident. “Around five-six months ago, during a katha vachan (religious singing) event, Salvi had said some words which had enraged the Gujjar community. Earlier this month, he had to appear in front of a panchayat of the community, where he apologised with shoes on his head,” said Devendra Kumar, SHO, Parsoli police station, Chittorgarh. According to the FIR, during his narration in the katha vachan event, Salvi had mistakenly said that a folk deity worshipped by the Gujjar community was the daughter of a Dalit man from the Salvi community. “During my narration, there was a large crowd and several people were making videos. At the time, nobody from the Gujjar community took objection to what I said and I also forgot about the incident,” Salvi stated in his police complaint. He said that around a week ago, a person called him on his phone, and abused him with casteist slurs over the incident. Thereafter, Salvi went to a caste panchayat of the Gujjar community to resolve the issue, states the FIR. Salvi alleged that youngsters present at the panchayat demanded that he be handed over to them, which scared the 70-year-old and he voluntarily picked up the shoes over his head and apologised. An FIR under IPC sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) along with sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was registered on Tuesday after a memorandum was submitted by Dalit groups to the district administration. “We have arrested three people, all of whom are named in the FIR. All are from the Gujjar community. We have also rounded up some other suspects who are being interrogated. Further investigation is being carried out in the matter,” said SHO Kumar.
