Bhopal: A Dalit man was allegedly beaten up and his house set on fire in Madhya Pradesh’s Niwadi district by fellow villagers after he refused to withdraw a complaint against them under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, police said on Saturday.
According to the police, Pushpendra Ahirwar, a resident of Mania village, was beaten up by Monu Yadav, Jagat Singh and Ashish Yadav of the same village on Saturday morning.
Niwadi superintendent of police TK Vidyarthi did not divulge any information about the incident. After repeated calls and messages, he said a case has been registered under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 294 (using obscene language) and 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house, etc) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
“The accused came to our house and warned Pushpendra of withdrawing the previous complaint of atrocity against them. Pushpendra refused to do so. The accused started beating him up with canes. He fell down and we rushed to save him,” said the victim’s sister-in-law Shashi Ahirwar. “They also burnt our house. Later, the accused fled from the spot.”
“We informed the police which took him to Prithvipur but the doctor referred him to Jhansi Medical College in serious condition,” she added.
{{/usCountry}}“We informed the police which took him to Prithvipur but the doctor referred him to Jhansi Medical College in serious condition,” she added.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier, Ahirwar was beaten up by the same accused after a dispute over a small issue, his family members alleged. “He had registered a complaint against them and they were pressurising to withdraw the complaint. We were threatened by the accused,” said another family member.