Six days after a brutal assault left him clinging to life, Nilesh Rathod, a Dalit man from Jarakhiya village in Gujarat’s Amreli district, succumbed to his injuries at Bhavnagar Civil Hospital on Thursday. His only “crime” — addressing a minor boy from a different caste as “beta” while buying snacks at a local shop.
The assault, steeped in caste-based animosity, unfolded on May 16. According to an FIR filed by Lalji Mansukh Chauhan, who was also attacked, the incident began innocuously enough when Rathod asked the boy at the shop if he needed help reaching some snack packets, casually using the term “beta” (son). Rathod returned moments later to the nearby bhajiya stall on Amreli-Savarkundla road, visibly shaken. He told Chauhan that the shopkeeper had tried to strike him with an iron ladle over the remark.
Chauhan then approached the shop to defuse the situation but was instead assaulted by the shopkeeper, Chotha Khoda Bharwad, who struck him with a stick. Another man, Vijay Anand Tota, joined in and beat both Chauhan and Rathod. The situation escalated further as Jaga Dudhat, the owner of the bhajiya stall, intervened and managed to pull them away from the attackers.
But it did not end there. Rathod’s uncle, Suresh Vala, later confronted the shopkeeper. By then, a group of more men—summoned by the accused—arrived and attacked Vala and others with sticks and sickles, hurling casteist slurs while unleashing their violence. The FIR clearly stated that the assailants mocked the victims for “overreaching” despite their so-called “lower caste” status. The attack only ceased when an elderly man arrived and urged the mob to stop.
The report added that the police booked only four of the accused—Bharwad, Tota, Bhavesh Mundhwa, and Jatin Mundhwa—under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and relevant sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, alongside section 135 of the Gujarat Police Act. The charges included grievous hurt, unlawful assembly, rioting, and intentional insult. After Rathod was hospitalised, the police added charges of attempt to murder, which were later upgraded to murder following his death.
Amreli Superintendent of Police, Sanjay Kharat, informed the national newspaper that investigations revealed a total of 11 individuals were involved in the attack. He confirmed that nine have been arrested so far, including not just the originally named four but also Kathad Arjan Mundhwa, Deva Sanga Mundhwa, Duda Bogha Mundhwa, and Ravi Duda Mundhwa. A minor has also been apprehended, and two more accused are still being pursued.
The incident has triggered outrage. On Friday, Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani staged a protest alongside Rathod’s grieving family. Mevani, in a strongly-worded Facebook statement, accused “casteist elements” of killing Rathod over a trivial exchange and demanded swift, uncompromising justice. He called for either five acres of farmland or government jobs for all four victims — including Rathod’s family and acquaintances who were also attacked. Mevani insisted the investigation be handed to a competent officer and fast-tracked to set a precedent.
Rathod’s family, inconsolable in their grief, have declared they will not accept his body until their demands are fulfilled — a stark symbol of the justice denied to the oppressed.
Rathod’s family, inconsolable in their grief, have declared they will not accept his body until their demands are fulfilled — a stark symbol of the justice denied to the oppressed.
