Madhya Pradesh village tense after Dalits ‘tease’ upper caste girls

Bhopal: A group of Dalit boys allegedly teased some upper caste girls at a village in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain district, leading to tension in the area and prompting the police to deploy additional security force, an official said on Sunday.

The situation in Gurla village, located more than 30 km from the district headquarters, is under control following the incident on Friday, Unhel police station in charge Krishan Lalchandani told PTI over phone.

Five minor boys from the community have been taken into custody on a complaint by the girls, and six upper caste persons have also been arrested for allegedly beating up the boys, he said.

Some minor boys belonging to Dalit community allegedly passed lewd comments at upper caste girls , but no one then complained to the police, Lalchandani said. On Saturday morning, some upper caste persons brought the Dalit boys to the police station after beating them, alleging they had teased girls from their community, he said. The girls also came to the police station and on the basis of their complaint, a case was registered against five boys under relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the official said.

After a medical examination of the boys who were beaten, a case was also registered against five identified and other unidentified persons from an upper caste under provisions of the IPC and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, he said. In another incident, a video of a naked man being beaten up by some persons has surfaced on social media following which the police in MP’s Sagar city have registered a case against unidentified persons, an official said on Sunday. In the purported video, some persons are seen beating up the man with sticks and pieces of pipes while accusing him of theft.