BHOPAL: The National Security Act (NSA) has been invoked against a group of men who allegedly kept a man on a dog leash and abused him in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal, state Home Minister Narottam Mishra said on Monday.
Talking to reporters, Mishra said he received information about a video of the incident this morning and he had directed the police to act within 24 hours.
In six hours, the police identified the accused and nabbed them, he said, adding that a police station in-charge has been removed from the field duty in connection with the incident.
The stringent NSA has been invoked against the accused, and the illegally constructed structures belonging to them have been identified and they will be razed, the minister said.
He further said that provisions of the Freedom of Religion Act were also invoked against the accused after a religious conversion angle came to light in the case.
The local administration on Monday demolished the illegal constructions of the accused
As per a senior Bhopal police officer, three of the six accused, identified as Faizan Khan, Sameer Khan and Sahil alias Salauddin have been arrested and efforts are underway to arrest the remaining accused. The accused have been booked under IPC Sections 365, 341, 342, 323, 327, 294, 427 and 34, besides the provisions of the MP Religious Freedom Act. Three of the accused already being accused over dozen criminal cases, including in murder and attempted murder cases in the past
In a video of the alleged incident, which happened on May 9, the victim is seen with a leash around his neck and the accused are telling him to bark like a dog while abusing him.
In the 40-odd second video, which went viral on Sunday late night, the accused men are heard abusing Vijay, before he says that he is ready to turn into a 'Miyan Bhai' (a term used for Muslims in Bhopal).
The victim had posted the video of the May 9 late night savagery on social media platforms, including facebook, as he alleged that the accused were "regularly threatening to kill him and his family and were forcing him to change their religion and start consuming beef."
The victim's brother alleged that the accused, who were known to his brother, turned the victim into a drug addict, forced him to steal money and valuables from house and were even pressurizing the entire family, to change their religion.
“Unable to take the trauma of threats from those men anymore, we sold our Tila Jamalpura house for just Rs 16 lakh (even when it could’ve easily fetched Rs 22 lakh) and shifted for our safety to another house in Panchwati Colony. On May 9 late night, those men abducted my brother and then unleashed savagery on him,” the tortured youth’s brother added.
Enraged over the video, activists of right-wing Hindu outfits, including Bajrang Dal protested outside the Tila Jamalpura police station of old Bhopal on Monday. Importantly, the in-charge of the concerned police station had failed to act on the complaint of the youth, despite approaching the police 4-5 times since the shocking incident.
(With inputs from agencies)