A dalit youth was allegedly beaten for offering water on shivling at the Lodheshwar Mahadev temple located in Lodhaura village of Ramnagar area in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki on Wednesday. A purported video of the incident has gone viral on social media.
According to reports, Shailendra Pratap, a young man from the Dalit community, alleged that the temple priest Aditya Tiwari used casteist slurs against him and assaulted him.
Shailendra alleges that when he was performing worship, the priest stopped him and along with his son, beat him up, causing him serious injuries. After initial treatment, he was referred to the district hospital and then to Lucknow.
Priest Aditya Tiwari said that the young man had first made indecent comments about his son and daughter-in-law, and he had only come to resolve the dispute. He called the allegations of casteist comments baseless and said that 80 percent of the temple servants are from the Dalit community, and people from their families handle responsibilities like decoration.
Ramnagar police station in-charge Anil Pandey said that the preliminary investigation has not confirmed caste-based comments. There is evidence that other members of the youth's family also worship at the temple. The investigation is ongoing, and action will be taken after the investigation.
