Madhya Pradesh: Dalit man lynched over borewell dispute
Bhopal: A Dalit man was lynched allegedly by the local sarpanch and some of his family members in a village in Madhya Pradesh’s Shivpuri district following a dispute over a borewell, police said on Wednesday.
The incident occurred in the village of Indergarh under Subhashpur police station on Tuesday evening.
However, it came to light on Wednesday when a video capturing the incident went viral on social media.
According to the police, the slain dalit, 30-year-old Narad Jatav, had gone to his uncle’s house in the village to help him in agriculture operations in his farmland.
Late Jatav used to help his uncle’s family in agricultural activities after his uncle’s death.
A borewell was dug with co-funding from the accused in his uncle’s farmland.
His late uncle used to irrigate his farmland with water from the borewell.
The accused also used to draw water from the borewell for their hotel built in the village.
The deceased Dalit got angry when he noticed on Tuesday that the accused laid pipelines in his uncle’s farmland to draw water from the borewell for his hotel and removed the pipelines.
This infuriated the accused who attacked the Dalit with sticks and iron roads till he died, police said.
According to the police, the accused included the local sarpanch Padam Dhakad, his brother Mohal Pal Dhakad and his son Ankesh and other family members.
A video capturing the accused encircling the deceased and then assaulting him with sticks and rods even as he was pleading for mercy went viral on social media on Wednesday.
Shivpuri district superintendent of police Aman Singh Rathore said that a murder case has been registered against eight people including the sarpanch.
Congress on Wednesday took the state government to the task for the horrific incident, saying that cases of atrocities on the Dalits in the state are increasing alarmingly.
Madhya Pradesh is witnessing ‘jungle raj’ and the Dalits mostly are the victims, state Congress president Jitu Patwari said.
Chief minister Mohan Yadav described the incident as very sad and warned that there was no place for such brutality and unruly actions by any one in Madhya Pradesh.
He said that eight people were arrested in connection with the incident.
He announced an ex-gratia of Rs four lakh to the next kin of the deceased.