A 62-year-old man named Swami Kant was arrested in Lucknow on Tuesday after he allegedly forced a Dalit devotee to taste spilt water at a temple to ‘prove’ it wasn’t urine. He also allegedly made provocative casteist remarks and issued threats.
Police said the incident took place on Monday inside the temple in Kakori in Uttar Pradesh. Station House Officer (SHO) of Kakori police station, Satish Chandra, told The Indian Express that as per the complaint, the 60-year-old victim, named Rampal, was sitting inside the temple premises when some water got accidentally spilt in front of him from a water bottle.
Following this development, Swami Kant appeared on the scene and started issuing casteist remarks against Rampal, as he allegedly assumed that Rampal had urinated at the spot. When the victim protested and denied the accusation, Kant allegedly forced him to touch the spilt water with his finger and then place it on his tongue to “prove” that the spilt liquid was water only.
As per the complaint, the victim complied with this demand at the time and returned home. The following day, Rampal, accompanied by his relatives, approached the police and filed a formal complaint against Kant.
Post the complaint, the Kakori police registered a formal FIR against the accused on charges including criminal intimidation and other related offences. In addition, police have invoked provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against him. “We arrested the accused, Swami Kant, in connection with the case,” confirmed SHO Chandra.
In their statement, the police further disclosed that Kant himself belongs to a backward class and lives a short distance from the temple premises where the alleged incident took place, making him well acquainted with the area. During questioning, police said the accused claimed he had only asked Rampal to touch the water.
Taking note of the incident, the Congress, in a post on X, called the incident “in BJP-ruled UP a blot on humanity”. “This incident is a symbol of the anti-Dalit mentality of RSS-BJP. Hatred towards Dalits runs in their blood… This is precisely why they want to abolish the Constitution in the country and implement Manuvad, so that they can exploit people based on caste,” the party said in a social media post.
