Around nine Dalit homes were burnt. Around nine Dalit homes were burnt.

At least nine houses belonging to Dalits were set on fire in Uttar Pradesh's Pratapgarh district on Sunday, leaving more than two dozen injured.

More than a dozen Dalits have been admitted to SRN Hospital in Allahabad with serious burn injuries.

The burnings are believed to be the result of a caste war in Kadampur village, under Hathgawan police station. But the immediate trigger for the incident was a nine-year-old Dalit boy, who threw coloured water on some Yadavs, who belong to the OBC category.

The angry Yadavs threw the boy into a canal, but his father Arun Kumar rescued him. A mob of more than 100 Yadavs then surrounded the Dalit locality, poured kerosene and set the houses afire.

Circle officer B.S. Rana said six Yadavs had been taken into custody and an investigation into the incident was on. "It happened around 8 pm on Sunday when a Dalit boy tried to celebrate Holi with the OBCs. A mob led by Harish Chandra Yadav, Lal Chand Yadav and Rajendra Yadav then torched his home," Rana said. "Later, more Yadavs arrived and set eight more Dalit houses ablaze." Sant Lal, one of the injured villagers, claimed that all the attackers were supporters of controversial independent MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh, who is presently in jail under the Gangster Act.

"They harass us frequently. They are powerful supporters of the MLA, whose palace in Benti village is only 15 km away from Kadampur," Sant Lal said. "The boy didn't know the Yadavs would react violently if he poured colour on them on Holi. They threw the boy into the canal and then attacked our hamlets on the village outskirts," he added.