A Dalit couple was hacked to death in Uttar Pradesh's Mainpuri district for a petty sum of Rs 15. Bharat Singh, 65, and his wife Mamta, 60, were brutally attacked with an axe after they were allegedly unable to pay the amount. Police said the couple was found dead with injuries to their neck.
Residents of Lakhnipur village in the Kurra police station area of Mainpuri, the couple owed the amount to a local shopkeeper called Ashok Mishra. The deceased were on their way to work in the field one morning when they were confronted by Mishra, who demanded they immediately repay his money. When the couple said they would pay him in the evening, the argument escalated into a physical fight when Mishra allegedly attacked the couple with an axe.
The accused and his wife Rajni have been arrested, and booked under Section 302 of the IPC and Section 3 (2) 5 of the stringent Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Act. Police also recovered the axe used in the crime. Dalits constitute 21 per cent of UP’s population. According to a recent report, with 20 per cent of India’s Dalit population, UP accounts for 17 per cent of the crimes against them.
