Bhopal, Aug 28 Under fire from the opposition over the murder of an 18-year-old Dalit youth in Sagar district, senior BJP leader and urban development minister Bhupendra Singh said the “incident should not be politicised”.
The village where the incident took place is located in the Khurai Assembly constituency of state cabinet minister Bhupendra Singh. Responding to the allegations made by the opposition, Singh said it was an unfortunate incident and all the accused have been arrested.
The minister also said that it wasn’t a case of atrocity against Dalit but it happened because of a long conflict between two parties. “Its not a case of atrocity against Dalit. There was a long dispute between two sides (victim and accused families) which caused the unfortunate incident and it should not be politicised,” Singh added.
The incident has sparked a political controversy in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh and the Congress has been hitting out at the ruling BJP on atrocities against Dalits.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, who had visited Sagar last week to address a public rally, said that the “BJP has made the state a laboratory” for atrocities on the community.
“A Dalit youth was beaten to death in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh. The goons did not even spare his mother. The Prime Minister, who projects the facade of building the Sant Ravidas temple in Sagar, does not even flinch at atrocities and injustice handed out to Dalits and tribals in Madhya Pradesh,” Kharge said on Sunday.
Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Sagar on August 12 and had laid the foundation of a temple of Sant Ravidas. He had addressed a mammoth rally also.
At least nine persons belonging to the OBC community and the minority community have so far been arrested under IPC Sections pertaining to murder, sexual harassment and voluntarily causing hurt, a Sagar district police official had said on Saturday.
According to the police, a group of men led by prime accused Vikram Singh (28) stormed into the house of 20-year-old Nitin Ahirwar on Thursday late night and forced him to withdraw a 2019 case of sexual harassment filed by Ahirwar’s sister against Vikram and his family members.
When Ahirwar refused, the attackers mercilessly assaulted him with sticks and rods. The critically hurt Dalit youth was rushed to a hospital, where the doctors declared him dead.
--IANS
pd/uk
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