CHANDIGARH: A Dalit sarpanch and his family members were allegedly assaulted and manhandled by an upper caste secretary of the gram panchayat in Chattarpur district of Madhya Pradesh, prompting the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) to send a notice to the state government on Monday.
Taking strong note of the incident which took place in Dhamchi village during the flag hoisting function on Independence Day on Sunday, the NCSC, on the orders of Chairman Vijay Sampla, sought from the Madhya Pradesh government an action taken report (ATR), immediately.
The sarpanch, Hannu Basor, told reporters that he hoisted the national flag on request of villagers since the panchayat secretary, Sunil Tiwari, was late for the programme, and this enraged him.
Basor claimed Tiwari assaulted him and pushed his wife when she tried to intervene.
However, a police official said a dispute between the sarpanch and the panchayat secretary over distribution of sweets at the event led to the unsavoury incident.
Following the dispute, the secretary misbehaved with the sarpanch, he said, adding a probe was underway.
According to the information received by the NCSC, a purported video of the alleged incident has gone viral on social media and picked up by various news websites.
In the clip, Basor can be seen getting kicked and manhandled by Tiwari who was upset as the sarpanch had hoisted the tricolour during the Independence Day function, in his absence.
Through the news article published in the online news websites dated August 16, the NCSC got the information that the sarpanch's wife and daughter-in-law were also beaten up by the secretary when they came to his rescue, a statement said.
Soon after the video of the sarpanch's assault went viral, Sampla tweeted from his official Twitter handle and asked the Madhya Pradesh's chief secretary, director general of police as well as the district collector and superintendent of police of Chattarpur to submit the ATR through post or e-mail.
Sampla cautioned the officers that if the ATR is not received, the NCSC might exercise the powers of the civil court conferred on it under article 338 of the constitution and issue summons for their personal appearance before the commission in Delhi.
"This is saddening that the Dalit sarpanch was attacked for hoisting the national flag during the Independence Day function," Sampla said in a tweet in Hindi.
City Superintendent of Police (CSP) Lokendra Singh said after the flag hoisting ceremony, sweets were distributed among the locals and the duo fought over it.
"The secretary misbehaved (with the sarpanch) and the matter is under investigation. Whoever is found guilty, will be punished," he said.
Singh said after the incident tension prevailed in the village where police personnel were deployed to maintain peace.
An official posted at the Orchha road police station said a case under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and for assault was registered against Tiwari.