Dalit man forced to rub nose in temple in Alwar village for criticising Hindu gods

Jaipur: A Dalit man was allegedly forced to rub his nose on a platform inside a temple in Rajasthan’s Alwar district after he made insulting remarks on Hindu gods in response to comments on social media for criticising the film ‘The Kashmir Files’, police said on Wednesday.

An FIR was registered against 11 persons on Tuesday night and two of them have been arrested. Some other persons have also been rounded up for harassing the Dalit man, Circle Officer Behror Anand Kumar said.

The incident occurred under Behror police station on Tuesday. A video of the same went viral in which the victim Rajesh Kumar Meghwal is purportedly seen rubbing nose in a temple under pressure from people present there. The CO said Meghwal, who works in a private bank, had criticised ‘Kashmir Files’ movie on Facebook two three days ago. He had written a post against the movie, which invited critical comments.

In the Facebook post, the victim questioned whether atrocities had happened with Pandits only and not with Dalits. He wrote that atrocities are happening with the poor daily and there is nothing in the name of their safety.

Some of the people wrote Jai Shree Ram and Jai Shree Krishna in response to Meghwal’s post on the film. Meghwal reacted to the comments with some derogatory remarks against gods which provoked people. Later, he sought apology on social media for making the comments on Ram and Krishna but some locals forced him to seek apology in a temple. Yesterday, he was taken to a temple where he sought apology. ”Some of the people present there forced him to rub in nose in the temple and he followed it,” the CO said.