An 18-year-old Dalit youth was brutally murdered by a group of upper-caste Hindus in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district for supporting Dalit youth’s sister’s stance against withdrawing a sexual harassment case she had filed in 2019.
The incident happened on 22 August this year.
The deceased was identified as Nitin Ahirwar.
The upper-caste Hindus also vandalized the Dalit youth’s house. When the Dalit youth’s mother arrived to intervene, the assailants stripped her naked.
According to Nitin’s sister, the accused came to her house and persuaded them to withdraw the sexual harassment case. However, when her mother refused, they threatened her and vandalised her house.
Nitin’s sister said: “They left the house and met Nitin near the bus stand in the village and started thrashing him. When my mother went there to intervene, they beat her up too and stripped her. I pleaded with them to leave them. However, they threatened to rape me. I ran into a jungle and called the police for help.”
Main accused is Vikram Singh Thakur, said police officers. Another accused include Komal Singh, Vikram Singh and Azaad Singh.
“A case has been filed against nine individuals, including the main accused under Section 307. After the death of the victim at the hospital, Section 302 and the SC/ST Act were also applied,” said Additional SP Sanjeev Uike.
The police have arrested eight accused while some of the accused, including the village head’s husband, are still at large.
Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSP supremo Mayawati, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Bhim Army’s Chandra Shekhar Aazad, the prominent Dalit politicians in the country, took social media to condemn the incident and express their outrage.
“In the Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation for the memorial of Sant Guru Ravidas Ji recently with great pomp and show. In the same region, the atrocities against his devotees have reached its limit, which stands as a living testament to the dual character of the BJP and its government. The horrifying incident happened under BJP rule in the state,” Mayawati wrote on X.
“The BJP has turned Madhya Pradesh into a laboratory of Dalit discrimination,” read Kharge’s post on X.
“The atrocities against marginalized communities have reached unprecedented levels under your (Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister) rule,” said Aazad.
