Doctor abuses, assaults Dalit woman and family in Gujarat, case lodged

A 58-year-old Dalit woman and her family were subjected to casteist slurs and assault by a doctor and her family in Ahmedabad’s Nava Vadaj area, Gujarat, on June 14. The altercation reportedly began when the woman’s son sat on a roadside bench in front of their house.

The victim, Dadam Vaghela, lives with her 30-year-old son Anil and his 27-year-old wife Pooja in Samarth Complex.

On the day of the incident, at around 7:30 pm, Anil was sitting on a public bench in front of his residence. The doctor, who runs a clinic beneath their flat, reprimanded him and told him to sit somewhere else.

Pooja defended Anil, and an argument broke out, drawing the attention of neighbours. On information, police arrived and diffused the situation.

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However, the Dalit woman alleges the situation quickly worsened again after the police left.

The doctor and her family, including her husband, son, and daughter-in-law, approached Dadam and her brother and began abusing them with casteist slurs. Her brother’s phone was seized by the doctor’s daughter-in-law after he attempted to record the incident.

When Dadam tried to retrieve the phone, she was hit on the head by the doctor’s son, and the whole family proceeded to assault her.

Police rushed to the spot after being alerted by the neighbours.

The Vadaj police registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for causing hurt (115), criminal intimidation (351), and using abusive words (79), along with charges under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the doctor and her family.

Further investigations are underway.

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