A large parts of Uttarakhand erupted in protests by Dalits after an upper caste teacher of a government school in Bageshwar, Kumaon hills, allegedly slit the throat of a Dalit man who entered a flour mill and was accused of "defiling" it. According to police, a verbal spat ensued between the teacher, Lalit Karnatak, and Sohan Ram, soon after the latter entered the flour mill. Enraged that Ram, a Dalit, protested the slur, Karnatak, police said, whipped out a blade a ran it through the poor man's throat.

Keshav Ram, the victim's uncle who later lodged the FIR, told TOI: "Both Dalits and upper caste people in the village have been using the mill. However, in view of the ongoing Navratri festival, upper caste members had issued a diktat to Dalit families threatening them not to use the mill, and if necessary, only after flour had been prepared as offering for the deities."