Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath took on the current Shivraj Singh Chouhan government over the rise in cases of atrocities against dalits and tribals since the BJP government came to power in the state.
Nath mentioned in his tweets, an incident from Guna, where a man was beaten up mercilessly in a market and another of the death of a tribal in Sagar after his tractor was seized by the forest department.
“First a dalit farmer couple was beaten up in Guna and now a dalit man ‘Dharmendra Valmiki’ was beaten up publically in barbaric manner. A tribal man also died of shock when forest department acted against him,” said Nath in a series of tweets.
Earlier, a farmer couple in Una was bashed up by the police leading to outrage across the nation.
In second such incident from Guna, a viral video showed some locals thrashing a man outside an agriculture pesticide shop in Galla Mandi area over suspicion of theft. The man was initially identified as Dharmendra Valmiki but later the police claimed that there was a goof up in his identification and he was Vikas Mali.
A farmer had gone there to buy pesticides and his bag carrying cash had gone missing. When the shopkeeper scanned the CCTV camera footage, locals spotted Vikas close to shop and in no time they caught hold of him and started thrashing him.
In the video, three men are seen bashing Vikas and later he was pushed on the ground and one of the attackers started dragging him with a towel draped around the victim's neck. The onlookers can be heard asking the attackers to show some mercy, warning he might die.
Thana in-charge Avnit Sharma claimed that two persons have been identified with the help of the viral video and search is on to nab the third accused.
In another incident, tribals had laid a blockade on the road in Dhana area in Sagar with deadbody of a man on Sunday.
A native of Didohniya in Dhana area, Maniram Gond, 40, was reportedly harassed by forest range officer, Devesh Gautam who had seized his tractor and wasn’t ready to release it despite several pleas from Gond, claimed his kin.
Gautam had reportedly demanded Rs 1 lakh in exchange for the tractor trolley from Gong, whodallegedly died of trauma. On Sunday, local MLA and Public Works Department Minister Gopal Bhargav had reached the dharna site and agreed to the demand that an FIR be lodged against the concerned forest officer.
Subsequently, Sagar collector Dipak Singh had set up a magisterial probe into the matter while Chief Conservator of Forest Amit Dubey had constituted an enquiry against Gautam who was suspended after Gond’s death.
Gond’s kin claimed that the forest ranger had impounded the tractor trolley on charges that Gond was encroaching upon forest land and later demanded Rs one lakh to free his tractor.
"On Saturday evening, my husband went to meet the officer with Rs 30,000 but he declined to accept it. Upon his return, he suffered a heart attack and died," said Ashok Rani, wife of Gond and the Sarpanch of Belai Mafi panchayat.
"I had asked the officer to release the tractor-trolley of the farmer several times but he did not listen," minister Gopal Bhargav told media. "I had also asked the DFO to intervene but he also did not listen, that’s why I had participated in the protest,” said Bhargav.