A 20-year-old Dalit man Parre Srikanth was assaulted and humiliated, with his head tonsured by his employer, the wife of a former Bigg Boss Telugu contestant, who accused him of theft. The incident took place in Pendurthi, Visakhapatnam on Friday.
The victim, Srikanth said that he had been working for four months at the house of Nutan Naidu, who was a contestant in the reality show Bigg Boss. However, he had quit the job earlier this month. On Friday, he was called by Nutan’s family to their home, Srikanth alleged.
Police released CCTV footage of shocking incident. 20 year old was tonsured in #Vizag #AndhraPradesh yesterday. Incident happened at Telugu Big Boss fame n producer Nutan Naidu residence. Seven booked under SC/ST Act for torturing, assaulting n tonsuring the head of Dalit. pic.twitter.com/vzaEXThdCV
— Nellutla Kavitha (@iamKavithaRao) August 29, 2020
“Initially they summoned me accusing me of phone theft, they left me when I stood firm and asked them to lodge a police complaint. Later in the afternoon, the supervisor called me again, when I went there, Nutan Naidu again accused me of stealing their phone. He alleged that he saw my WhatsApp status and alleged that I took the phone.”
He alleged, “They threatened me and told me to confess to the theft. When I remained firm and asked them where I would have gotten the phone from, they assaulted me and accused me of hacking the WhatsApp of their daughter. They physically attacked me and called a barber to tonsure my head despite pleading with them against it.”
Srikanth who belongs to the Mala community categorized as Scheduled Caste, alleged that after attacking him the family threatened to file a case of sexual harassment against him. “I was assaulted for nearly four hours,” Srikanth alleged.
Nutan Naidu’s wife Priya Madhuri and six others have been arrested by the Vizag police. They have been booked under IPC sections 307 (attempt to murder), 342 (wrongful confiement), 324 (voluntairily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation) r/w 34 IPC (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) and 3(1)(e), 3 (2)(v) of the SC/ST Act.
"They accused him of stealing a phone and stalking a woman over WhatsApp but they went out of control, hitting him and shaving his hair off," said Shravan Kumar, Assistant Commissioner of Police, West Visakhapatnam to TNM."We have arrested all seven people seen in the video, they are all house staff. They had accused the youth of stealing a phone, but it seems the allegations were based on a grudge held by the supervisor against the youth," he added.
The police have also released video footage of the incident based on CCTV footage from inside the residence. In the video, the young man could be seen kneeling on the floor and being beaten with a stick as Madhu Priya watched the attack. Some of the accused stood taking videos and photographs of the assault. Another video shows the victim sitting on the floor, as his head is being tonsured.
Meanwhile, protests were carried by Dalit groups in Visakhapatnam on Saturday demanding justice for the victim. The protestors threatened to tonsure Nuthan Naidu as a retaliation.
This is second such recent incident of atrocity against a Dalit from Andhra Pradesh. In July, Vara Prasad. a resident of Vedullapalli village, East Godavari had his head tonsured and was also allegedly assaulted by a police Sub Inspector for allegedly confronting a local YSRCP leader. Prasad alleged that he along with others in the village stopped the movement of sand lorries through their lane due to a death. This led to a confrontation with the YSRCP leader, and later Prasad was taken into police custody, where the SI allegedly beat him up and called a barber to shave his head and moustache. The opposition TDP had hit out at the Jagan-led government, accusing them of being ‘anti-Dalit.’
(With inputs from Mithun MK)