1 held for assaulting Dalits

The Dalits of a village in Lalitpur district on Thursday said they were fearful of a backlash after a “powerful” local leader was arrested for assaulting women of their community and members of an NGO.

“On May 12,local leader Sahab Singh Yadav abused and attacked five local women workers of Sahjani Shiksha Kendra (SSK),who wanted to open a literacy centre for Dalit women of the village,” said Archana Dwivedi,deputy director,Nirantar,an NGO under which SSK operates in Digwar village in Madawra block. “Yadav said we are Dalits and we will spoil the atmosphere,” said Meena,an SSK worker.

A fact-finding team visited the village on May 18. “The Dalit community was too scared to talk about the incident,” said retired IPS officer S R Darapuri,who led the team.