Earlier this week it was reported that a 17-year-old boy was shot dead in an Uttar Pradesh's Amroha on June 6 by four youth allegedly because he prayed at a local temple defying upper-caste objections. 

The incident occurred in the Domkheda village when the accused, Horam Chouhan visited Vikas Jatav's house at night and shot him dead while he was sleeping.

This incident was reported extensively by media organizations including India Today, Hindustan Times, and The Telegraph. with a similar headline suggesting "Dalit teen shot after the temple visit."

Following the reports, social media was abuzz with similar claims. Co-founder of Alt News, Mohammed Zubair tweeted quoting a tweet by another verified user, "There is no outrage by News Channels and Anchors because the accused are not from the Minority community."

As per The Telegraph's report, on June 1, Vikas had visited a Shiv temple at their village of Domkhera in Amroha district, 400km northwest of Lucknow.

India Today quoted the victim's father Om Prakash Jatav as saying, "On March 31, some youth from the Chouhan community prevented my son from entering the temple. We don't know why they did this. We have never been discriminated like this before. They later beat up my son and used casteist slurs but he was saved by some locals." 

The Quint quoted the brother of the deceased saying, "Around 12.30 am in the night, my brother was sleeping on the front porch of our house when four youths stormed inside. One of them shot him dead with a revolver and ran away.”

As per reports, the police had been informed of the fight between Jatav and the upper caste youth but no action was taken. Om Prakash said this was not the first time that a Dalit had prayed at the village temple.

According to reports, the case has been against the accused under charges of murder and violation of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. Vipin Tada, Amroha superintendent of police said, “We have registered a case against four people from a family on the basis of the father’s complaint and are investigating.”

No caste angle: Police

Niraj Kumar, an officer in charge of the local police station, said the primary investigation didn’t suggest any dispute relating to a temple or untouchability. He said, “There is no caste angle in the incident. There is video evidence that Dalits have been using the two temples in the village for decades. There was some personal dispute between Vikas and Horam over some money that the victim’s family owed them."

A similar clarification was put out by Amroha Police on Twitter. In the video message, Amroha superintendent of Police, Vipin Tada said, "A case has been registered and two of the accused have also been arrested. The elder brother of the deceased owed Rs 5000 to the accused, due to which a brawl erupted on May 31. The accused fled from the village that day and returned only on June 6 to take revenge."

You can watch the video statement here.

However, the Quint reported that the victim’s family has denied any dispute over monetary matter and accused the police of trying to subdue the incident.

On asking if there is no caste angle in the incident then why the case is registered under violation of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, an Amroha Police official told on the condition of anonymity, that 'cases in which the complainant is from SCST category, the charges under this acts are mostly applied.'