Hyderabad: Shopkeeper abuses Dalit man assuming he is Muslim

Hyderabad: The condition of Muslims in the country is no different than that of Dalits when it comes to atrocities being perpetrated against them. While there is a legal safeguard for SCs and STs in the form of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, there is none to protect the Muslims.

A perfect example of this is an incident which happened between the owner of V-Mart in Bibi Nagar and a PHD holder named Manchala Maheshwar who also contested from Bhongir assembly constituency in 2018 representing Telangana Labour Party.

According to Maheshwar, the incident happened on September 4, when he had gone to V-Mart to purchase a fair and lovely, and a hair-dye packet. When he went to the billing counter, he was encountered by Ovaldas Shivaiah, the owner of the supermarket, who passed comments questioning why ‘low-life’ people like Maheshwar would come to the supermarket to buy only two items.

Maheshwar didn’t even get a cover when he requested for it. When he tried to pick up a cover that was lying on the floor, Shivaiah snatched it from Maheshwar and said the cover cost Rs 5, and that for two items there was no need for a cover.

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Maheshwar replied saying there were several items in the supermarket that had expired, and he had to search for items for get unexpired ones. This enraged Shivaiah, who abused Maheshwar saying “Turka L…akondaka,” after assuming due to Maheshwar’s appearance that he was a Muslim. The word ‘Turka’ is often used as a pejorative for Muslims, originally coming from Turkish soldiers who had come to the south whole working with Delhi sultanate dynasties centuries ago.

When Maheshwar told him that he was a Hindu, and a Madiga, Shivaiah continued hurling abuses saying “have you descended from above Madiga L…akodaka.”

Maheshwar reminded Shivaiah that customer was like a god, and the way he was abusing a customer wasn’t right. Maheshwar made the payment and exited the store.

As he was going out, Shivaiah’s son Nityananda came out and beat him up. The owners of the store didn’t stop there. They informed Shivaiah’s younger brother Sudhakar and his son Mahesh about the incident. the two followed Maheshwar and once again thrashed him at a pan shop located at a distance.

With injuries on his face and body, Maheshwar filed a complaint at Bibi Nagar police station, who booked Shivaiah, Nityanand and one more person who wasn’t named in the first-information-report. The accused have been booked under Sections 115(2), 352,351(2) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and Sections 3(1)(r)(s) of the SC/ST (POA) Act. An inquiry was done by an officer of the rank of an assistant commissioner of police.

The matter of contention in this case was whether Shivaiah abused Maheshwar for being a Muslim, or for being a Dalit. The perpetrators haven’t been booked for showing their hatred towards a religious community in this particular case.

“The attackers are trying to get away with the charges saying they did abuse me thinking I was a Muslim, but they are not accepting that they have abused me for being a Dalit. The CCTV footage has been recorded and the attackers have also accepted that they attacked me. But till now they haven’t been remanded,” Maheshwar tells Siasat.com.

Maheshwar is planning to approach the Human Rights Commission if the culprits are not brought to justice.

The take away from this case is that it is perhaps it is acceptable in this society to abuse a Muslim in the name of religion, but unacceptable to abuse a Dalit in the name of caste.

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