BEED, March 20 -- A Dalit farmer from Beed has complained to the police, stating that he was accosted, abused and accused of practising black magic and casting spells on women in the village. The incident has reopened old wounds for Machindra Payke, from Chinchala village, who has carried the weight of caste prejudice and social exclusion for more than two decades. The FIR, registered on March 13, names a former sarpanch and 33 women, who have been booked under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Payke's ordeal began in 2002, when he offered water in a temple, when his farm well, built under a government scheme, first yielded water. "People beat me up and locked me inside the gram panchayat office. Later, I was handed over to the police but they let me go," he recalled. This soon turned into a prolonged social boycott. Chinchala, with a population of around 5,000, is dominated by OBC and Maratha communities, followed by Scheduled Castes and a smaller Muslim population.P5...