Dalit journalist assaulted, injured in caste-based attack in Rajasthan
Jaipur: A Dalit journalist was assaulted and subjected to caste-based abuses in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Rajasthan state.
According to Kashmir Media Service, a journalist Lakhan Salvi was assaulted and subjected to caste-based abuse while covering a public grievance programme at the Gogunda SDM office in Udaipur district.
According to the FIR, journalist Lakhan Salvi said that Gopal Lodha, a resident of Gogunda, assaulted him and hurled caste-based abuses at him after obstructing his camera with his mobile phone while Salvi was covering villagers submitting a memorandum at the Gogunda Sub Divisional Magistrate office.
Journalist Salvi said that Lodha struck him on the head and face with a “sharp pointed weapon” and also attempted to attack his eye and hit his private parts, before people intervened.
The complaint states that Salvi suffered a head injury and began bleeding, and while he was being treated at a nearby community health centre, Gopal Lodha and his brother Kailash Lodha arrived and attacked him again.
Salvi further said that Gopal Lodha had previously subjected him to caste-based abuse and said the new incident involved both caste-based slurs and as a potentially fatal assault.
Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra condemned the attack, calling it a “highly condemnable and serious incident.” He said targeting a journalist over his caste identity and social concerns was not merely an attack on an individual but an attack on “freedom of expression and social justice.”
Dotasra said the repeated atrocities against Dalits in Rajasthan raised “serious questions about law and order” and urged the government to “immediately arrest the accused”, ensure a fair investigation and provide security to Salvi. He stated that “atrocities and tyranny against the Dalit community and journalists would not be tolerated at any cost.”
The incident follows an caste-discrimination episode at a government school in Bhakliya village, Bhilwara district, during an Indian Independence Day function, where two Dalit men said that they were forced to vacate chairs and sit on the floor after being subjected to caste-based slurs.
