India: Dalit farmer in UP beheaded for not sharing water

Badun: A Dalit farmer was beheaded in Uttar Pradesh because he refused to share water for irrigation with another farmer. The police have arrested the accused.

The incident took place in Badaun's Din Nagar Sheikhpur village where Nathu Lal Jatav was watering his field late Monday.

Another farmer, Roop Kishore, asked Jatav to divert water to his field but Jatav refused, saying that his field needed more water. Jatav was then beaten up and beheaded by the angry farmer.

Some locals tried to intervene, but fled when Roop Kishore attacked Jatav with a spade. The 56-year-old farmer is reported to have slumped to his death.

Jatav's son, Ompal, told reporters that he and his father had been working in the field till late in the night.

"My father told me to go home and keep dinner for him. When he did not return home till the early hours of the morning, I went to the field. On the way, one of the locals told me that Roop Kishore had killed my father. I reached the spot and saw my father's beheaded body lying there," Ompal said.

Ompal further said that Roop Kishore alone could not have committed the crime and there were a few others with him.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Siddharth Verma said that an FIR has been lodged against Roop Kishore on the basis of Ompal's complaint.

"Roop Kishore has been booked for murder and under sections of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act at the Bilsi police station. He was absconding, but we have tracked him down and arrested him. Further investigations are underway to find out if more people were involved," the SP said.

The family has been handed over the body after the post-mortem on Tuesday.

The Din Nagar Sheikhpur village, where the incident took place, is a predominantly Dalit village.