BHOPAL: Six cops, including a sub-inspector have been suspended and a magistrate probe has been initiated in connection with the police brutality enforced on a Dalit couple and their kin in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh.
A day after the district collector, police superintendent of Guna district and the IG of Gwalior Zone were removed from the post and a high-level enquiry ordered into Tuesday’s shocking incident, a magisterial probe has been initiated by sub divisional magistrate SL Yadav.
The IG-AJK, IP Arjariya and deputy inspector general of police (DIG) AK Pandey met the hospitalized couple Ramkumar Ahirwar and Savitri Bai and recorded their statements.
The Dalit couple had consumed pesticide on Tuesday after failing to prevent a government team from destroying their crops on large tract of land, which the local administration claims is public land encroached by a powerful land mafia Gabbu Pardi. The land was rented to the Dalit family for farming on payment of Rs 3 lakh.
The couple after consuming poison was ruthlessly beaten by cops on the same land, while they resisted being taken in an ambulance to the hospital. When Ramkumar’s brother and mother tried to save the couple, they too were beaten by the cops. The couple's children were also abused and pushed away.
The concerned land has been allocated for opening a model College of Excellence.
Meanwhile, Gita Bai, the mother of the hospitalized farmer alleged that doctors at the government hospital attempted to get the thumb impressions of the couple and their kin on plain paper. While Ramkumar is stated out of danger, wife Savitri Bai is stated to be critical.
Gita Bai further said, “We had requested the government team and cops to give us just two months to cut the standing crop, but instead of listening to our requests they ran the JCB on the standing crop, forcing my son and daughter-in-law to consume pesticide.”
Rahul Gandhi and Mayawati tweet over the incident
Meanwhile, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and BSP chief Mayawati have tweeted over the issue.
In his tweet, Gandhi, while sharing the pictures of the incident, wrote “Our fight is against this thinking and injustice.”
The BSP chief tweeted, “crushing the standing crop with JCB machine and forcing the Dalit couple to attempt suicide is shameful and cruel. Nationwide condemnation of the incident is essential, the state government should take stern action in the matter.”
The opposition Congress, meanwhile, has constituted a seven member committee headed by state’s former home minister Bala Bachchan. The committee members will visit spot of the incident and conduct a probe there on Friday and consequently submit a report in the matter to the MP Congress Committee chief Kamal Nath.
Meanwhile, reacting over the incident, the state’s minister for higher education Dr Mohan Yadav said on Thursday, “Colleges of excellence were to be opened in eight districts of MP, including Guna, under a central government scheme. The land was allotted for the college in 2017, but the land was captured in 2018, while the Congress ruled the state. Why did the previous government fail to prevent the grabbing of the land allotted for college.”