Atrocities on SC/ST will not be tolerated at any cost: MP Home Minister Mishra

BHOPAL: Days after the incident of urination on a tribal man, now an episode came to the fore of feeding debris to Dalits in Madhya Pradesh. Reacting to the incidents, Home Minister Narottam Mishra said on Thursday that such inhuman acts will not be tolerated in the state.

The incident took place on June 30 in Barkhadi village in Narwar police station of Shivpuri district where two youths comprising a Dalit (Arjun Jatav) and Manjhi community (Santosh Batham) were allegedly fed debris forcibly and it was put on their clothes by people of the minority community, on suspicion of molestation. Their faces were covered with soot and garlanded shoes even their procession was marched out by the accused in the village. And they were handed over to the police.

“It is an inhuman incident and is like a Taliban act, and shamed to humanity. The accused have been arrested and I have given instruction of invoking NSA against the culprits as well as bulldoze their illegal encroachments”, Dr Mishra told reporters here.

“It is a disgusting act and surprisingly Congressmen have phoned the administration to quash the hideous case, whereas a Dalit was a victim”, the Minister accused Congress. “Such kinds of acts will not be tolerated in the state and the sternest action will be taken against the culprits”, he said.

Hours after the instructions, the local administration took the action of razing the illegal houses, built on the forest land, of the accused, under the bulldozer operation.

The Home Minister, Mishra informed that on the complaint of the youths, FIRs have been registered against the seven accused in various sections, out of them, six have been arrested they are Azmat Khan, Arif Khan, Shahid Khan, Islam Khan, Raheesha Bano and Sayeena Bano while Vakeel Khan is yet to be arrested.

“All seven accused have been arrested under sections 147, 149, 294, 323, 328, 506, 342, 355, and 270 of the Indian Penal Code, and the provisions of the Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribes (Prevention and Atrocities) Act”, Superintendent of Police of Shivpuri district, Raghuvansh Singh Bhadouria told Millennium Post. “A proposal of invoking the NSA (National Security Act) against the accused has been sent to the District Magistrate (collector) Shivpuri. All arrested accused have been sent to judicial custody”, the SP

also said.