A 19-year-old Dalit student, who was assaulted by Gujjar residents of his village in Baghpat district, death caused of multiple organ failures triggered by renal trauma and septicaemia from the assault on Monday morning, police said. Akash Khondwal (19) had been on ventilator support at a hospital in Meerut after being beaten up with an iron rod, following his abduction from his home at Kamala village, on April 27.
Doctors were treating the 19-year-old with dialysis since his kidneys had stopped functioning. Police believe the attack on Khondwal, allegedly by Gujjars, came following an affair between a Dalit man and a Gujjar woman of the village.
Confirming that Khondwal died early on Monday, Inspector General (Meerut Range) Ram Kumar said, “His body was sent to his village, where he was cremated. There is no more tension. All seven people have been arrested. He came to Meerut the same day after the assault but informed the police afterwards. We took immediate action,” he said.
According to doctors who were treating Akash, the beating left him with a number of injuries, including trauma to the chest and pleural effusion or fluid build-up between the lungs and chest wall. But the most critical, doctors said, was the damage done to his kidneys, and septicaemia that spread through his body.
A doctor explained, “He had very serious injuries. He was on dialysis because of the damage that had been done to his kidneys — there were clear signs of blunt force trauma. With his kidneys not functioning, the septicaemia spread and we weren’t able to control it as well as we would have wanted to.”
Akash’s family returned to the village with his body, where he was cremated, 700 metres from the spot where he was assaulted. The police deployed personnel in a bid to prevent further flare-ups.
Netu Kumar, a villager, said, “Apart from Akash’s family, who were in Meerut, only a few other people have returned. Most of the homes remain empty.” On a visit to the village on Saturday, The Indian Express found that of the 43 Dalit homes in the village, residents of about 13 have fled fearing further retaliation.
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