Five persons were booked Wednesday for allegedly assaulting an 18-year-old Dalit student in Mehsana for posting an Instagram story on the yet to be released film, “Pathaan”.
According to the police, the incident on December 26 was a fallout of Hiteshkumar Parmar’s laudatory upload on Shah Rukh Khan’s much-awaited January release. The second-year undergraduate at BP Brahmbhatt College in Unjha taluka of Mehsana, a fan of King Khan, was merely expressing his adulation on the Insta post.
However, shortly after the upload, he received threats on the social media handle to take it down. “He refused. The next day, when he was waiting for a bus to take him to college for the ongoing exams, he was accosted by a group of five boys,” added the investigating officer.
According to the FIR at Unava police station of Mehsana district, Parmar was waiting for a bus to college for the ongoing exams when Abhaysinh and four other boys confronted him. “They hurled casteist slurs at him and then started beating him. The others have been identified as Pradeepsinh Rajput and Vanshraj Rajput from Dabhiyapara village; Hiren Rajput and Kapil Rajput are from Dabarvas,” informed the police officials. The miscreants fled after a local, Anandji Thakor, came to Parmar’s rescue.
According to Inspector S.R. Patel at the of Unava PS: “The accused are yet to be arrested. The investigation is on under the ST/SC cell of the police.”
The Dalit student, undeterred, took the bus to college for the exam. On returning home in the afternoon, he narrated the incident to his family. Thereafter, they took him to the Civil Hospital in Unjha where he was administered primary treatment.
