Three days after Babulal Ram, a Scheduled Caste man in his late 50s, was reportedly beaten to death by three upper-caste men, villagers here are blaming the fresh incidents of atrocity against Dalits on the Assembly elections.

According to reports, on November 12, Babulal was in his house when he heard the cries of 10-year-old Ruban Ram, who was reportedly being beaten up by three upper-caste men  Satendra Thakur, Sanjay Thakur and Deepak Thakur  for going to the ghats which was "out of bounds" for Scheduled Caste members.

Babulal, a daily wager, tried to intervene, but the trio reportedly started beating him with wooden sticks. Baburam died half-an-hour later. According to the post-mortem report, he died of head injuries.

Villagers said this was the third incident of atrocity against Dalits in the last one month. Machhia Devi alleged that her 22-year-old son Navin Ram was beaten up by upper caste Bhumihars and was undergoing treatment at Sadar Hospital in Hajipur. Santlal Ram, 25, alleged he was also beaten up about a fortnight back for refusing to accept Rs 50 as his daily wage.

Saying that the tension began in the run-up to the Assembly elections, villagers added that the situation had worsened after polling was held in the area on October 28.

"Upper-caste men have been trying to dictate our votes for a particular candidate. How can we allow anyone to decide our votes?" said Babulal's nephew, Mohan Ram.

Besides the three main accused, Sanjay Tiwari, chief of Gurhmiya Primary Agriculture Cooperative Credit Society (PACCS), is also among the 31 upper-caste men who have been named in the FIR. Villagers say that Tiwari, a Bhumihar, provoked the incident.

Some claimed that Tiwari is a "close associate of JD-U Lalganj MLA Vijay alias Munna Shukla, who had fielded his wife, Anu Shukla, as the party's candidate for the seat.

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