MP: Congress, BJP trade charges over Dalit beating incident

Opposition Congress and ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh on Friday traded charges over the incident of a Dalit couple drinking pesticide at Guna town and being beaten up during eviction from government land.

Opposition Congress and ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh on Friday traded charges over the incident of a Dalit couple drinking pesticide at Guna town and being beaten up during eviction from government land. A seven-member fact-finding team of the opposition party met the couple who have been admitted to a hospital.

The team, which included former home minister Bala Bachchan, also visited the spot where the couple were allegedly brutally beaten up by the police on Tuesday. Holding a press conference later, Bachchan, a Dalit leader, another former state minister Jaivardhan and other Congress leaders alleged that the BJP has been anti-Dalit since its inception.

They also demanded a judicial probe into the incident. Talking to reporters in Bhopal, former minister Lal Singh Arya, a Dalit leader in the BJP, Panchayat Minister Mahendra Singh Sisodia and Guna MP K P Yadav hit out at the Congress, alleging that it always treated Dalits as a vote bank.

A Dalit man was burnt alive in Sagar district when the Congress was in power but even a police case was not registered, the three BJP leaders alleged. On Tuesday, the Dalit couple drank pesticide when they were being evicted from a plot of government land allotted for a college in Guna.

A video purportedly showed the police beating the husband mercilessly with batons. Police officials said they had to use some force as the couple refused to go to hospital after drinking pesticide.

As per the local authorities, Rajkumar Ahirwar (38) and his wife Savitri Ahirwar (35) had leased the land from a man who had encroached on it, and were tilling it. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi shared the purported video of the incident on Thursday and condemned the police's action.

Inspector General (IG) Gwalior range, Guna collector and superintendent of police were transferred and the six police personnel allegedly involved in the incident were suspended after the incident drew widespread condemnation..