BHOPAL: Dalit rights activist and Gujarat legislator Jignesh Mevani has declared a war against the Shivraj Singh Chouhan led BJP government over the recent torture of a landless Dalit couple and their kin by the police in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh.
Mevani visited Guna district on Saturday and met the victim couple at the hospital and their kin. Later, Mevani announced a waging war against the BJP government, if the culprit cops weren’t booked under provisions of the Prevention of Atrocities against SC/ST Act and arrested within 24 hours.
"The cops crossed all limits by beating the landless couple who had consumed pesticide as their crops were getting crushed by the government team. The cops didn’t even spare the kids of the couple and threw them away, while also tearing the blouse of a woman related to the couple. We demand that all the culprit cops not only be suspended in the matter but booked under provisions of SC/ST Atrocities Act and arrested in the next 24 hours,” said Mevani.
"If the action demanded by us isn't initiated in the next 24 hours, we'll call upon all farmers and Dalits to proceed towards MP for teaching lesson to the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government," threatened Mevani.
"Till date, the MP CM hasn’t visited the victim family, we're giving him 24 hours to come and meet the family and initiate the action demanded by us against the culprit cops. If it doesn't happen, it would prove very costly to the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government.”
Meanwhile, based on The New Indian Express story published online on July 15, Akash Baglekar, a fourth-year law student at the University College of Law, Osmania University, Hyderabad has written to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to take cognizance of the entire shocking episode and requested for an enquiry and compensation to the Dalit family.
Till date six cops, including a sub-inspector have been suspended over July 14 shocking incident and a magisterial probe headed by SDM SL Yadav has been ordered. Also, the collector and SP of Guna district and IG-Gwalior have been removed from their posts by the MP government.
On July 14, the Dalit couple Ramkumar and Savitri Bai had consumed pesticide after failing to prevent a government team from crushing their crops with a JCB machine which the local administration claims is public land encroached by a powerful land mafia Gabbu Pardi and then 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 in Jagatpur Chak area of Guna district, 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, who also abused and pushed away helpless kids of the couple.
The concerned land has been allocated for opening a model College of Excellence.
The Guna district police lodged a case u/s 353, 141, 309 of IPC against seven people, including the couple at the Guna Cantt police station.
Man beaten by mob over suspicion of pesticide theft in Guna, video goes viral
Meanwhile, the Guna district police are probing the brutal beating of a man by the mob over suspicion of pesticide theft at the Galla Mandi in Guna district on July 16. The incident had come to light after a video went viral over social media on Saturday evening.
The viral video shows the man becoming unconscious due to the beating by the attackers, after being dragged by attackers through a cloth around his neck and being dragged to the ground.
The police have lodged a case of theft against the man who was beaten brutally beaten. ". He is accused in at least seven criminal cases in adjoining Ashok Nagar district, including cases of bootlegging and NPDS Act. A standing arrest warrant also is pending against him in Ashok Nagar district. He had stolen pesticide from a farmer and sold it in the Galla Mandi, enraged over which those present at the market assaulted him. His medical examination has been done and the process is underway to identify the attackers and book and arrest them for the criminal assault,” SP of Guna district Rajesh Kumar Singh said on Sunday.