18-year-old beaten to death over inter caste relationship

BENGALURU: An 18-year-old Dalit youth was beaten to death in Karnataka for being in a relationship with a woman belonging to an upper caste. The dead is Sumit Kumar, a first-year BSc student at the Government First Grade College in Kamalanagar.

The woman's father Kishan Gawli (55) and brother Rahul Gawli (24) have been arrested in the incident. The woman and Sumit were in a relationship for quite some time. The woman's family were against this relationship.

Meanwhile, Sumit had come to the woman's house to meet her on January 5. Kishan and Rahul were not at home at that time. On reaching home, they found Sumit with her. They then brutally beat him with a stick and abandoned him in an isolated place outside the village. Sumit was found by the locals after a long search for hours. The seriously injured youth was taken to a hospital in Latur, but his life could not be saved. Sumit's body was handed over to his relatives after the postmortem.

Sumit's relatives staged a protest demanding action against the accused. His father told media that he knew about his relationship with the girl but did not expect them to kill him. The accused have been remanded for 14 days.