On Thursday, July 6, the Madhya Pradesh government rolled bulldozers over the illegal residences of 7 accused persons who were arrested for brutally assaulting two Dalit young men on false suspicion that they had recorded and molested some girls from Varkhadi village in Shivpuri district.
The six persons detained have been identified as Ajmat Khan, Arif Khan, Shahid Khan, Islam Khan, Raeesa Bani, and Saina Bano. The police are searching for the seventh accused who is absconding.
A day after the arrest, the state government had said that strict action would be taken against the accused and that bulldozers would be rolled on their illegal residences. MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra had added that NSA would be slapped against the accused persons who have participated in the hate crime and their illegal properties would be demolished.
The police have booked the accused under sections 323, 294, 506, 328, and 342 of the Indian Penal code and under sections 147, 355, 270 of the SC/ST Act. The incident is said to have happened on June 30. The accused persons raised false suspicion that the victim Dalit boys were harassing the girls from their village.
“A group of members from a minority community bashed two men, blackened their faces, garlanded them with shoes and paraded them in Varkhadi village on Friday,” confirmed Magroni police post in-charge Deepak Sharma.
He said that the inquiry disproved the allegations of molestation. Sharma said that the two had never even met the rural girls and had only spoken to them over the phone.
The accused had encroached on forest land, and wanted to block the road
However, reports further mention that the victim’s brother had complained to the Superintendent of Police of the district on July 3, 2023, and demanded to demolish their encroached houses and free the forest land. The victim’s brother noted that the accused persons had encroached upon forest land.
The victim’s brother also said that the accused wanted to block the road. “For this, they hatch conspiracies and make all kinds of allegations. The accused have already killed many animals by electrocuting the boundary of the land,” the brother added.
Further investigations in the case are underway.