Four men, including two accused of beating up a Dalit man four years ago, allegedly beat the man’s mother to death in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar city late Sunday after she refused arrive at a compromise in a case lodged against them. The police said three of the four assailants were arrested on Monday after a case of murder was registered against them. According to an FIR registered at Bortalav police station, 45-year-old Geeta Maru was out to purchase bidi at a shop in Fulsar around 6 pm on Sunday when Shailesh Koli, his friend Rohan Koli and two unidentified men approached her. The four men, wielding iron pipes, allegedly started abusing Geeta, a homemaker, before Shailesh and Rohan proposed that they settle out of court a case lodged against them three years ago on the basis of a police complaint filed by her son Gautam. According to the FIR – filed on the basis of Geeta's complaint recorded by the police before her death – when Geeta refused to settle, the four men started hitting her with the pipes. Following the attack, Geeta was rushed to state government-run Sir Takhtasinhji General Hospital by her husband Kishor, who works as a labourer in a factory, and daughter Anjali. “While undergoing treatment, she was fully conscious last night and we recorded her complaint. However, her condition deteriorated later on and she succumbed to her injuries early Monday,” Bhavnagar SP Harshad Patel told The Indian Express. He added that in April 2020, Shailesh and Rohan had attacked Geeta’s son Gautam, who works as a labourer in the construction industry. After the attack, on the basis of a complaint filed by Gautam, police had registered a case under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). “The accused and the victim live in the same locality. On Sunday, the accused proposed that as they are neighbours, they should settle the old case out of court. However, the woman turned down the proposal, leading to the assault,” said Patel. Geeta’s family members initially refused to claim her body, demanding that the accused be arrested first. “The kin of the victim claimed the body after we arrested three of the four accused on Monday. Efforts are on to arrest the fourth accused,” Patel said. He added that a case under sections 323 and 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) under the IPC was lodged at Bortalav police station late Sunday on the basis of Geeta’s complaint. Section 302 (murder) under IPC was added on Monday after she died. The three men arrested have been identified as Rohan Koli alias Rohan Makwana, Akash alias Akelo Agrawat (22) and Jaydeep alias Bhuro Pathaya (23), all residents of Bhavnagar city. Jignesh Mevani, Dalit leader and Congress MLA from Vadgam in Banaskantha district, claimed that the accused had been issuing threats to the Dalit family to settle the old case out of court, as the court was about to start hearing the matter. “Gautam’s family didn’t agree for a compromise in the matter. They wanted justice through the court. Consequently, the accused mounted a fatal assault on Gautam’s mother yesterday,” Mevani posted on social media on Monday.
