The woman came home after the incident and collapsed (Representational)

A 65-year-old Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur died on Sunday, after she was severely thrashed by an upper-caste man for eating a mango that had fallen to the ground in an orchard. The woman had gone to the orchard to graze her cattle when the incident occurred. The accused, who is the owner of the orchard, is absconding.

Rani Devi had picked a mango from the ground at an orchard in the district. She was beaten by the accused after he caught her eating the fruit. Ms Devi came home after the incident and collapsed. She was rushed to the district hospital, which referred her to Kanpur. The woman died on the way.

The incident came days after a 12-year-old boy was shot in the head for plucking mangoes at an orchard in Bihar's Khagaria district. The boy died instantly and the owner of the orchard fled the spot.

The boy was playing in Shergarh village and had reportedly entered the orchard to pluck mangoes. When the accused saw the boy picking mangoes, he got enraged and allegedly fired at him.

The police had sent the boy's body for post-mortem and investigation was underway.

"We have searched the suspect's home and operations are on to arrest him. A case has also been registered," an officer said.

With inputs from ANI