Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra on Thursday termed the thrashing of two Dalit youths in Shivpuri district as a "shame on humanity" and said he has directed the administration to invoke the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against the accused persons.
Speaking to reporters here, Mishra said he has also directed authorities to demolish any (property) encroachments made by the accused.
The minister also slammed the Congress for being silent on the issue and claimed leaders of the opposition party called up officials to "hush-up" the matter.
Notably, an incident of a man urinating on a tribal youth in MP's Sidhi district has recently caused a huge outrage.
On June 30, two Dalit youths were allegedly thrashed by members of a minority community on suspicion that they molested and filmed some girls at Varkhadi village in Shivpuri district, police said on Wednesday.
Police have registered a case against seven persons, including two women, and arrested six of them in connection with the incident.
"A group of members from a minority community bashed the two men, blackened their faces, garlanded them with shoes and paraded them in Varkhadi village on Friday," Magroni police post in-charge Deepak Sharma said on Wednesday.
He said the allegations of molestation against the two men proved wrong during the investigation. The duo had spoken only over the phone with some girls in the village and not even met them, Sharma claimed.
State Home Minister Mishra said, "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 the minister, who is also the state government's spokesperson.
The accused persons have been arrested, he said.
Mishra also said he has "directed the administration to invoke NSA provisions against the accused, and if they have made any encroachment, then to take bulldozer action against them," Mishra said.
The police have registered a case against the accused under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, an official earlier said.
Madhya Pradesh BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma has condemned the incident and wondered whether the Congress is maintaining "silence" on the issue due to its "appeasement policy". PTI MAS GK
