India, March 20 -- For 23 years, a Dalit farmer in Beed has carried the weight of caste prejudice and social exclusion. Now fresh wounds have reopened, with villagers accusing him of practising black magic and casting spells on women.

Machindra Payke, from Chinchala village, filed a complaint with the local police on March 13, stating that villagers had accosted, abused and accused him of practising black magic a few days earlier.

Police registered a first information report (FIR) that names a former sarpanch and 33 women, booking them under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The FIR and inquiry that will follow mark another harsh turn in a journey that started in 2002.

In his 20s then, Payke's tr...