Una Dalit flogging case: Veraval court convicts 5, acquits 37

The Veraval court in Gujarat’s Gir Somnath district on Monday delivered its verdict in the widely discussed Una Dalit flogging incident case, convicting five of the 42 accused while acquitting 37 others due to lack of evidence. Two of the accused in the case have died.

The court will pronounce the quantum of punishment for the convicted accused on Tuesday.

The five accused held guilty are Ramesh Jadav, Rakesh Joshi, Pramod Goswami, Nagji Daya and Balwant Goswami.

Among those acquitted are 37 accused, including four police personnel who were facing charges in the case. The police personnel acquitted include Kanchanben, then PSI Pandey, then Una PSO Karshanbhai and Nirmal Zala, the latter of whom has since died.

What was the case?

The incident dates back to July 11, 2016, when seven members of the Dalit community were allegedly assaulted in Mota Samadhiyala village near Una.

The victims were accused by a group of people of slaughtering cows while they were reportedly skinning a dead cow. They were allegedly tied to a vehicle and brutally beaten with sticks, pipes and other weapons in a case that triggered outrage.

Following the incident, police arrested 42 accused, including four police officials.

The case sparked widespread protests by the Dalit community across Gujarat and other parts of the country. In the aftermath of the incident, several incidents of rioting were reported in Gujarat, during which one police personnel died and public property worth crores of rupees was damaged.