MADHYA PRADESH, INDIA (ANS) -- A Dalit villager was allegedly burned to death by upper-caste individuals.

The murder occurred on Nov. 10 in the Dhar District of Madhya Pradesh in India.

According to a news release from Salem Voice News (SVM News), Kailash Bagri, 40, was burned alive by a group of 50 armed men for beating an ox (belonging to his upper-caste neighbor) that had strayed into his field.

Shankar, Kailash Bagri's son, told SVM News the men all converged at his family’s house brandishing swords.

“My father ran some distance but they eventually caught him and burned him to death...all because he beat an animal,” Shankar told SVM News. “Our family was so terrified that we ran for cover,” SVM News said he added.

SVM News said a senior police official said the incident was bought to law enforcement’s attention a couple of days after it happened. However, he denied reports that the man was burned alive.

Chanchal Shekhar, District Superintendent of Police of Dhar told SVM News, “(The criminals) tried to conceal their crime by burning and disposing the body, but we have seized the evidence.”

Shekhar said that police have so far been unable to make arrests in the case, but they are looking for the suspects.

Paul Ciniraj, president of the Christian Ministers of Churches in India (CMCI) and the director of Salem Voice Ministries, condemned the incident.

SVM News said that brutality by upper caste individuals against Dalits, India’s lower caste residents, is common.

SVM News noted that two Dalit women were recently thrown out of a government hospital by health officials after they refused to pay an additional bribe. They died soon after giving birth.

Another Dalit woman was tied to a tree, severely beaten and forced to drink urine. She refused to harvest alone an entire crop on an area farm. The incident occurred on Oct. 10.

In Sept., SVM News reported, a Dalit woman was burned alive by upper caste men in northern Uttar Pradesh state, after her son eloped with a girl from their caste.

Then in Aug., ZSVM News reported a policeman in eastern Bihar state drowned two Dalit girls by throwing them in a river. They had reportedly stolen from him.

SVM News said that caste-based discrimination is banned in India, but the practice is still widespread among upper-caste Hindus. Dalits are routinely prohibited from temple worship and are often forced to drink from separate village wells.

The most menial jobs, including cleaning of sewers, are also largely done by Dalit community members, who comprise about 160 million of India's 1.2 billion population.

SVM News reported that earlier this year, a United Nations (UN) committee equated violence against Dalits with racial discrimination and questioned India's record on treatment of the group.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has called upon the Indian government to ensure an immediate end to violence against Dalits.

Salem Voice Ministries ministers the gospel and provides relief services in India and third world countries.

For more information, go to www.salemvoice.org/about.html 

Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer and the founder and director of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, http://www.joyjunction.org or http://www.christianity.com/joyjunction. He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is "Homeless in the City: A Call to Service." Additional details about "Homeless" are available at http://www.HomelessBook.com He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds at jeremyreynalds@comcast.net. Tel: (505) 877-6967 or (505) 400-7145. Note: A higher resolution JPEG picture of Jeremy Reynalds is available on request from Dan Wooding at danjuma1@aol.com.