A video of a man mercilessly beating a Brahmin priest with a cricket bat has gone viral on social media.
Reports have identified the victim as Kailash Sharma (26), a native of Chatarpur district in Madhya Pradesh and a priest at a temple in Dhabikalan located in Fatehabad in Haryana.
He had been living with his cousin Ramji in Bhattu Kalan for the last two years.
News reports from Zee News and several other big media outlets said that the priest was beaten on charges of molestation.
However, an independent online news media after inquiring with the village head and other members of the village found it to be false. It is said that few mischievous youth purposely spread an audio 6-7 months old claiming it to be the priest talking obscenely with a girl just to beat the priest.
The report noted that the conversation was between the priest and his wife-to-be in which both of them were discussing about their marriage. This had apparently been vouched by the girl’s side as well.
This conversation was accessed by the miscreant youth and circulated with an inappropriate connotation that the priest was speaking obscenely with a girl of the village.
Quoting the Pradhan (village head) and other members of the people, the report said that the girl did not belong to the village. He also told that the boys seen in the video were called from outside.
The Pradhan had said that the youth had a personal vengeance with the priest due to which he was beaten mercilessly with a cricket bat.
A 26 years old Pujari was kidnapped n brutally beaten up by the casteist goons in a village of Haryana. D condition of pujari deteriorated while his family was taking him back 2 his native place in MP. More than 48 hours have been passed away yet police haven't arrested d accused pic.twitter.com/C6au0ZDnmS
— Shubham Sharma (@ShubhamSharm11) November 4, 2020
Villagers upon hearing Sharma’s screams rushed to the spot and rescued him from the clutches of the attackers. The priest’s cousin and father Charandas took him back to his village in Madhya Pradesh.
The Pradhan who hails from the OBC community reportedly convened a panchayat later supporting the priest and accused the miscreants of bringing disrepute to the village.
The fact finding team of the news outlet had also reached out to the family of Kailash Sharma in Biro village in Madhya Pradesh. The entire family of the priest was scared after the incident and was also worried about the deteriorating condition of the priest.
The priest’s brother had told that the miscreants used the temple for illegal activities. It was said that they had kept cricket bats and some sports goods inside the temple and the priest had locked and gone away some 10 kms for work. One of the miscreant youths had broken the lock and took out their belongings. Upon finding the lock of the temple being broken, Sharma asked the miscreants the reason for doing so. Due to the repeated confrontation, the miscreant youths decided to attack the priest. They had pulled his hair tuft and used casteist slurs before taking him to a room and hitting with a cricket bat.
Source: Falana Dikhana