Karnataka: Dalit workers assaulted, locked up by coffee estate owner

A coffee plantation owner and his son allegedly locked up and assaulted Dalit workers over a loan in Karnataka’s Chikkamagaluru district.

Acocrding to NDTV, 16 Dalit workers were kept locked up for over 15 days.

The owner, Jagadish Gowda, allegedly beat up one of the workers following which the others boycotted work and decided to leave, according to reports.

Gowda, however, asked the workers to first return a loan amounting Rs 9 lakh that he had given them. When the workers didn’t return the money and refused to work, he locked them up in a room in his home.

The coffee estate owner has also been accused of assaulting a pregnant worker who, according to media reports, suffered a miscarriage.

A case has been registered against Jagadish Gowda and his son Tilak under the SC-ST Atrocities Act after a complaint by the relatives on October 8. They, however, withdrew the complaint later in the day, according to the police.

Both father and son are absconding.

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