23, Oct 2015

Mohit M. Rao
Bengaluru, October 23, 2015
Attackers said his writings were anti-Hindu as he talked about the caste system
A young Dalit writer was attacked by a group of men for his writings against the caste system perceived to be “anti-Hindu” at Davanagere in Central Karnataka on Thursday.
The attack comes barely three months after the shooting of writer M.M. Kalburgi – barely 100 km away – and at a time when numerous writers across the country have raised their voice against rising intolerance.
According to a complaint filed by 23-year-old Huchangi Prasad, a journalism student at Davanagere University who had published a ‘controversial’ book a year ago, an unidentified man came to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe hostel at the university in the early hours, claiming that Mr. Prasad’s mother had been hospitalised following a heart attack. Apparently in “shock”, the student followed the man who promised to take him to the hospital. Midway, in an isolated corner of APMC Yard, a group of eight to ten people ambushed him.
“They surrounded me and started to push me around. They said my writings were anti-Hindu as I talked about the caste system. They even put kumkum all over my face. They pulled out a knife and said they will cut my fingers off so I can never write again,” Mr. Prasad told The Hindu.