Bhopal: A Dalit youth was allegedly killed by a group of people in Sagar district over old enmity, police said on Sunday.
Eight people have been arrested in connection with the incident so far, Sagar district additional superintendent of police (ASP) Sanjeev Uike said.
The incident took place in Barodia Nonagir village under Khurai Dehat (rural) police station limits on Thursday, police said.
According to the police, the slain youth, Nitin Ahirwar (18), along with his father, had gone to the local market on the fateful day. The accused surrounded the deceased and started beating him with sticks.
His mother tried to come to his rescue. However, the accused allegedly manhandled her and tore her clothes.
The youth died when he was taken to a hospital in Sagar for treatment.
His family members initially refused to cremate his body, demanding the arrest of all the accused.
Later, police pacified them, saying that eight people had been arrested and other accused would be arrested very soon, leading the kin of the deceased to relent.
A case was registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and SC, ST atrocities act, the police officer said.
An old enmity had led to the incident, the police officer said.
The deceased’s brother Rohit said that the accused had been mounting pressure on his family for a compromise in an old case relating to the harassment of his sister.
Mr Uike said that the harassment case was filed in 2019, and four people were arrested in this connection then.
Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Arun Yadav alleged link of the key accused in the incident with state urban development minister Bhupendra Singh.
The incident sparked an outrage, with Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) attacking the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government for it.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, in a post in X on Sunday, said that a Dalit youth was beaten to death and the ‘goons’ did not even spare his mother.
“The Prime Minister who is pretending to get Sant Ravidas temple built in Sagar does not even speak on Dalit and tribal oppression happening continuously in Madhya Pradesh,” he said.
“BJP has turned Madhya Pradesh a laboratory of Dalit atrocities”, he said.
BSP supremo Mayawati also lashed out at the state BJP government over the incident.
State Congress chief Kamal Nath also condemned the incident and demanded adequate compensation for the family of the deceased.
State BJP secretary Rajneesh Agrawal said that police took prompt action in the matter by arresting eight people.
He said the police acted promptly every time such incidents took place in the state.
He asked the Congress leadership why they were silent on cases of atrocities against Dalits in Rajasthan.
