A 21-year-old waiter was assaulted and choked by a customer in Mahasumund after the bar was asked to close for the night. The incident, captured on CCTV, happened at Sapna Bar in the City Kotwali police station area. Police have arrested the accused and sent him to jail.

The accused, Harsh Chandrakar, arrived at the bar around 11:30 pm on June 20 with his friend Damu Sahu to drink. When the staff told them at about 12:10 am that the bar needed to close, Harsh allegedly got angry, started using caste slurs and said, “You don’t know me.” The victim, Vivek Kumar Kurre, a waiter from Bhalesar village who has worked at Sapna Bar for two years, told police that Harsh then grabbed his neck, beat him with fists, threatened to kill him and used obscene language. He also made insulting remarks about Baba Guru Ghasyidas.

The bar manager Ranjit Tiwari, Pramod Tiwari and owner Ramdev Sahu intervened and calmed the situation. Vivek said the entire event was recorded on CCTV inside the bar.

After the incident, Vivek filed a complaint at Mahasumund police station and demanded strict action against Harsh, saying Harsh had visited the bar several times before and was aware of his caste. Police registered a case against Harsh under BNS sections 296, 115(2), 351(3) and 302, and also added provisions under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (amended 2015): sections 3(1)(r), 3(1)(s) and 3(1)(v). These provisions apply when a person belonging to an SC is assaulted, insulted or publicly humiliated on the basis of caste.

City Kotwali police said Harsh was arrested on the victim’s complaint, produced before a court and remanded to judicial custody. Harsh runs a transport business. His younger brother, Shubham Chandrakar, has been absconding for the past seven months in a separate assault case.

Why it matters: the case highlights violence against service staff and caste-based insults. It also shows how quickly a dispute over bar-closing time can escalate into assault and hate speech.