23-year-old who took poison to protest Una flogging dies

Yogeshbhai Sarikhada belonged to the Vas caste and was from Moti Parabadi village of Dhoraji taluka in Rajkot district, had consumed a poisonous substance.

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Yogesh was the youngest of casual labourer Hira’s three children — two sons and a daughter.

A Dalit youth, one of the 18 who attempted suicide in Gujarat to protest against the July 11 flogging of a Dalit family by gau rakshaks in Una, died Sunday morning at the Ahmedabad civil hospital.

Yogeshbhai Sarikhada, a 23-year-old who belonged to the Vas caste and was from Moti Parabadi village of Dhoraji taluka in Rajkot district, had consumed a poisonous substance.

He had been receiving treatment at Rajkot civil hospital. When his condition deteriorated, he was brought to Ahmedabad early Sunday.

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Yogesh was the youngest of casual labourer Hira’s three children — two sons and a daughter. He had dropped out of school after Class VIII and worked at construction sites to support the family. “Our father died of a heart attack eight years ago. Yogesh was not too keen on studies and started working as a casual labourer. On the day he consumed poison, he did not tell me where he was going. I found out only when he was taken to hospital,” elder brother Ramesh said.

The Sarikhadas work on two bigha of gauchar land but that is not enough to keep the family going. “I take care of the farming and double as a casual labourer,” Ramesh, 31, said.

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