MP: 7 arrested, houses demolished for forcing Dalit men to consume human excreta
The Shivpuri administration in Madhya Pradesh has arrested seven members of a family and demolished their homes for allegedly forcing two Dalit men to consume human excreta.
The Shivpuri administration in Madhya Pradesh has arrested seven members of a family and demolished their homes for allegedly forcing two Dalit men to consume human excreta, after they reportedly spoke to one of the female members, police said on Thursday.
The alleged atrocity against the Dalit men took place in Varkhadi village of Shivpuri district on June 30, but came to light on Wednesday after a purported video went viral. HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the clip.
According to Shivpuri superintendent of police (SP) Raghuvansh Singh Bhadoria, the action against the family came on the directions of state home minister Narottam Mishra, who has also ordered invocation of the National Security Act (NSA) in the case.
“The two men, aged 23 and 24, would reportedly talk to a woman (26) from the accused’s family over the phone. When the family came to know about this, they asked the woman to call the two men to their house in Varkhadi village. When the two arrived on June 30, the family thrashed them brutally. The accused blackened their faces and allegedly forced them to eat human excreta. They also garlanded them with shoes and paraded them in the village,” Bhadoria said.
The family, however, claimed that the two men were beaten for molesting the woman and touching her inappropriately. The SP said the family’s claims were found to be false during the course of the probe.
The victims alleged the accused tried to implicate them in a false case of sexual harassment. “We went to the woman’s house after she called us to meet. We didn’t commit any crime,” one of them said.
Police said a case was registered against the family under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 294 (using obscene language), 506 (criminal intimidation), 328 (causing hurt by poison), 342 (wrongful confinement), 147 (rioting), 355 (assault to dishonor a person) and 270 (malignant act) of Indian Penal Code and under relevant sections of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Subsequently, the accused – Ajmat Khan, Vakil Khan, Arif Khan, Shahid Khan, Islam Khan, Rahisha Bano and Saina Bano – were arrested on Wednesday and sent to prison after being produced in a local court on Thursday, the SP said.
On Thursday morning, a joint team of forest, police and district administration partially demolished three houses of the family on the grounds that they were built on forest land.
“Three people (members of the family) had encroached upon about three hectares of forest land. A case was registered against them on September 19, 2022. The divisional forest officer had ordered removal of the encroachment. They were told to voluntarily remove the encroachment but these people did not act,” sub-divisional officer of forest, Elvin Varman, said.
The alleged atrocity against the Dalit men came days after a video of one Praveen Shukla urinating on a tribal man in Sidhi district went viral and created a furore across the country. Shukla was arrested on Wednesday and booked under the NSA. A portion of his house, which officials claimed was illegally constructed, was also demolished by authorities.
The incident against the Dalit men triggered a fresh political row between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition Congress.
“In the Sidhi case, all the Congress leaders, from Rahul Gandhi to Kamal Nath, reacted but now, they are mum on the Shivpuri case which is equally heinous. But we are not selective in taking action, so we have ordered the invocation of the NSA against the family,” home minister Mishra said.
Congress spokesperson Swadesh Sharma said: “The Congress has a clear stand that every accused should be punished as per the law. It is the BJP who makes an agenda and differentiates among the accused in the name of caste and religion.”