Two 18-year-old Dalit teenagers were bound to a tree and beaten with lathis, in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, by four men belonging to an upper-caste community for more than 12 hours, accusing them of stealing hens. Videos of the barbaric incident where the hapless teenagers were surrounded by men, and flogged with sticks, was captured by bystanders on their mobiles, and shared on social media. The victims were tied to a tree for several hours, police said.
The incident came to light through a video of Venkateswara Rao and Santhosh, being beaten with lathis, after they were tied to tree. On the basis of the video, the police have registered a a case. It is stated that while the two were travelling to a nearby village, they stopped at Gonthupadu village and were discussing if they could pick up fuel, supplied in a bottles, at a shop. The show owner, mistook them for people, who have been stealing hens in the village and raised an alarm. Following this, the duo was beaten up by the shop owners and three others.
Narrating the incident, Venkateswara Rao told the media, “On Monday, when we were going to a nearby village, we stopped at a shop in Gonthupadu village. While we were having a discussion whether we should fill fuel from the bottles available at the shop, Santosh had already grabbed the bottle. When the shop owner noticed this, she accused us of stealing the petrol and made a scene asking if we were the ones stealing hens in their village.
The police have registered a case under Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Prevention of Atrocities Act.