MP: 'Unauthorised' property of accused in Dalit assault case demolished, NSA invoked

Shivpuri (MP): The administration in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri district on Thursday demolished `illegal structures' of some persons accused of beating up two Dalit men at Varkhadi village last week, an official said.

Action under the stringent National Security Act (NSA), which allows for detention without trial for one year, was also initiated against the accused, he added.

The accused had constructed houses by encroaching on 3.22 hectares of forest land which were removed using bulldozers, the official said.

Earlier in the day, state Home Minister Narottam Mishra had termed the thrashing of the two Dalit men as a "shame on humanity" and slammed the opposition Congress for being `silent' on the issue. He also accused Congress leaders of calling officials to "hush up the matter." Notably, the BJP government in the state found itself in a difficult spot earlier this week after a video showing a man urinating on a tribal youth in Sidhi district emerged and caused huge outrage. Assembly elections are due in the state this year.

On June 30, two Dalit men aged 24 and 21 were allegedly beaten up by members of a minority community on suspicion that they molested and filmed some girls at Varkhadi village in Shivpuri district.

The assailants also blackened their faces, garlanded them with shoes and paraded them, said Magroni police post in-charge Deepak Sharma.

Police registered a case against seven persons including two women, and arrested six of them.

The allegations of molestation against the two victims proved to be baseless during the investigation, police official Sharma said, adding that the duo had only spoken over phone with some girls in the village and had not even met them.

"It is a shame on humanity and a Talibani act. It is a gruesome act, and Congressmen called officials over phone to hush up the matter. Dalit and Scheduled Caste persons were treated in an inhuman manner, they were garlanded with shoes, faeces were stuffed in their mouths and later inhuman acts were committed against them. Such acts will not be tolerated in Madhya Pradesh," said home minister Mishra, who is also the state government's spokesperson.

State BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma also condemned the incident and wondered whether the Congress was maintaining "silence" on the issue due to its "appeasement policy".