BHOPAL: All six accused who allegedly kept a man on a dog leash and abused him by forcing him to bark like a dog and pressurizing him to change religion in Bhopal’s Tila Jamalpura have been arrested.
The six arrested accused include two minors, who have been booked under IPC Sections as well as the provisions of the MP Religious Freedom Act.
The National Security Act (NSA) was invoked against three accused (two of whom are already accused in over 15 cases, including murder and attempted murder) and illegally constructed portions of the houses of three accused have been demolished.
The state’s home minister Narottam Mishra alleged that Congress remained silent on the issue. “Senior Congress leaders from Delhi to Bhopal to Chaupal, why are they silent over this inhuman incident. Ex-CM Digvijaya Singh, who is quick to tweet on incidents happening in Uttarakhand and even abroad, had nothing to tweet on this Bhopal incident. State Congress chief Kamal Nath who says that he’s a Hindu, but not a bevkoof (stupid) preferred remaining silent on the savage act committed with a Hindu youth. None of the senior Congress leaders are condemning the savagery, but are questioning demolition of illegal constructions of the accused. Entire action has been initiated in accordance with law,” state’s Home Minister Narottam Mishra said.
State BJP spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi, while echoing Mishra’s words, questioned why the two senior Congress leaders Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh haven’t uttered a single word in the matter of savagery and attempted religious conversion of the Hindu youth by the men from another community. “The same Congress party, whose leaders consider Muslim League secular and speak while abroad about minorities being unsafe in India, why is it silent on the savagery with the youth in Bhopal by minority community men. This exposes that Congress is part of an ecosystem designed to defame India,” Chaturvedi said.
State Congress’s media wing head KK Mishra, meanwhile, said, “No one can support any inhuman and savage act with anyone, but whatever action is being taken should be in accordance with law and not targeted against any particular community.”
Importantly, the savagery with the 25-year-old youth had come to fore, after the video of the cruelty became viral on Monday morning, prompting the government and police to act in the matter. The concerned youth’s brother had also alleged that the accused were pressurizing their family including their widow mother to change their religion and start consuming beef. Owing to these pressures they had to sell their house in Tila Jamalpura and shift elsewhere in the MP capital.
The family also alleged that despite complaints about the May 9 incident to Tila Jamalpura police multiple times, the cops didn’t act in the matter. Taking action in the matter, the Tila Jamalpura police station in-charge Anurag Lal was attached to lines on Monday only.