New Delhi, May 9 (NIE): The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sent a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and police over a media report on the recent assault on a 19-year-old Dalit student and his 16-year-old nephew, which police believe to be an attack by Gujjars in retaliation to an affair between a Dalit man and Gujjar woman of Kamala village in Baghpat district.

The commission called the incident, if true, a “human rights violation”.The 19-year-old had succumbed to multiple organ failure triggered by renal trauma and septicemia on Monday. The report said most Dalits living in the village had deserted their homes after the incident.

“The incident indicates lawlessness in the region and plight of the people belonging to the Dalit community suffering due to highhandedness by the people belonging to upper caste,” the report said. The UP government and director general of police are expected to submit a detailed report on steps taken for the relief and rehabilitation of affected families in four weeks’ time.