Two Dalit children were on Wednesday beaten to death by two persons for defecating in front of a panchayat building in Shivpuri district’s Bhavkedhi village of Madhya Pradesh in the morning.
Sirsod police station SHO RS Dhakad said the two children, Roshani (12) and Avinash (10), suffered serious injuries in the incident and were rushed to the district hospital where doctors declared them dead.
Both the accused have been arrested. Before attacking the minors, the accused, according to a police officer, clicked photos on their mobile phones.
One of the accused told the police that he killed the two as he was “commanded by the god to kill demons”.
Sirsod police station in charge RS Dhakad said, “The victims were defecating in the open near Panchayat Bhavan on Wednesday morning when the accused Hakim Yadav and Rameshwar Yadav objected to their act and later beat them mercilessly with lathis resulting in their death.”
He said the two children were rushed to a hospital where doctors declared them brought dead.
Superintendent of police (SP), Shivpuri Rajesh Chandel said, “An FIR has been registered under section 302 of IPC and relevant sections of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the two accused.
The accused have been arrested.
Police are investigating the matter and also trying to know if the murder is related to superstition or untouchability.”
Roshni’s brother Manoj said that the accused Hakim had a rivalry with his family. A member of Hakim’s family is a sarpanch and he did not even allow toilets to be built in Manoj’s house.
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I feel like sharing my related fb status here :
# Dalit boys brutally murdered in Madhya Pradesh ,after being photographed & “caught” for open defecation by the perpetrators who were booked under 302 IPC and SC/ST Atrocities (Prevention ) Act :
Police reportedly investigate the cause
(“Superstition” or “Untouchability” ?)
It is time to take a look at the whole picture emerging from the Manuvadi-Hindutva led aggressive campaign of ‘swatch bharat’ . Let us see who emerge as its foot soldiers and which the sections that really bear the brunt of oppression are. With the latest incident of brutal thrashing and killing of two dalit teens in Madhyapradesh as punishment meted out for their “audacity” in committing a “crime” like open defecation we find a pattern in which the perpetrators invariably assume sort of moral high ground. The accused murderers of dalit children reportedly stated to the police that they were acting on the basis of their belief that killing of “evil persons” would bring them punya (boon) from the God.
Seemingly, the two culprits (namely Hakim Yadav and Ramlal Yadav ) belong to the Hindu backward community Yadav.
A police officer who investigates the case has reportedly told the media that police would look into whether the crime was motivated by “superstition” or (practice of) “untouchability” . What does he mean by this disclosure? Apart from merely hinting at the possibility of the crime attracting various provisions of IPC and other special criminal laws like SC/ST Atrocities (Prevention) Act, was it also an hasty attempt to cloak related issues of earlier hostility possibly existed between elders of the dalit family and a Yadav sarpanch who allegedly worked against toilets being built in dalits’ homes , despite “swatch bharat”?.
In another incident which took place in 2016 in BJP ruled Rajastan, a veteran activist of CPI(ML) Comrade Hamid Khan was martyred at the hands of a gang of ruffian officials. The murder was following his efforts to dissuade those municipal/ health department officials from “shaming” poor village women who as usual had visited an open place early morning for defecation.
Immediate provocation behind this murderous lynch mob mindset seems to be the abominably hostile ‘shaming’ campaign in the context of ‘swatch bharat abhiyan’ which particularly targets the most deprived as objects of hate. With that, dalits, women and other marginalized sections who seldom gain access to toilets contrary to the extra- extravaganza propaganda, suddenly come under the scanner only to be insulted, to become objects of hate in the context of newly discovered “crime” of open defecation.
Even deeper the thinly veiled prejudice that often manifests as blood-curdling violence against dalits, women and the poor in general , lies the gems of Manu .There is a tailor made vision of how exactly the jurisprudence of today’s cherished Hindu Rashtra should look like, especially when it comes to the nature of social treatment to be meted out to dalits , women (of all castes and religions) and other deprived and marginalised , just not by Brahmans but by all and sundry subscribing to its ideal.#
I find two mistakes after revisiting old links related to the Rajasthan incident mentioned in my earlier comment. Please get the corrections accordingly – First, the incident was in June 2017 and not 2016. Secondly, the name of martyr in the episode is Zaffar Hussain and not Hamid Khan. ( I sincerely apologise for these errors which could have been avoided if I hadn’t relied only on dates and names suggested by memory !)
Bill Gates shoud be proud. His Clean Toilet award to Modi seems to have gone to the most deserving candidate. Above news proves that Mr. Modi’s RSS goons have taken his Swachh Bharat – Clean Toilet – project very seriously and thus have adopted zero-tolerance policy against open defacation. Let us raise glass to a cleaner India while making sure that these dirty dalits do not come in the way of the mission of a puritan Hindutva India.