Shivpuri (MP): Two Dalit children, who did not have a toilet at home, were allegedly beaten to death Wednesday by two upper caste men for defecating near a village panchayat building in Madhya Pradesh’s Shivpuri district, police said.
The incident took place around 6.30am at Bhavkedhi, 25km from the district headquarters. The village, according to locals, had been declared as Open Defecation Free (ODF), April 4, 2018.
The two alleged assailants, Hakam Yadav and his brother Rameshwar Yadav, were arrested soon after the incident, police told reporters.
Manoj Balmiki, a labourer whose youngest sister Roshani (12) and his only son Avinash (10) became victims of the horrific crime, alleged that the family faced discrimination in the village due to their caste.
“We don’t have a toilet at home. The children went out to defecate in the morning. Rameshwar and Hakam, who were standing near their hand pump, shouted at them for defecating on the road and rained blows of lathis (sticks) on their heads while the children were relieving themselves, killing them in seconds,” a tearful Balmiki told reporters. “I saw the accused fleeing. The duo were caught by people some distance away,” Balmiki added.
Balmiki alleged that he had had a spat with Rameshwar and Hakam two years ago when they accused him of hacking off a branch from their tree and hurled casteist slurs at him.
“We have to wait for an hour to draw water from the hand pump. The entire village discriminates against us,” Balmiki alleged.
Hakam and Rameshwar were arrested for murder under the IPC and the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, said inspector RS Dhakad of Sirsod police station. Security was stepped up in the village following the incident, he added.
A police source said that after he was arrested, Hakam Yadav said he killed the kids as God had commanded him in his dream to kill ‘demons’.
“Avinash studied in class one while Roshani studied in class three,” Balmiki informed.
“All the people in the village have toilets at home, except us. We are five brothers living in a thatched hut. The panchayat had sanctioned a house with toilet for me. But a family member of the accused was panchayat sarpanch, he scuttled the proposal,” Balmiki alleged.
District Collector Anugraha P informed that an aid of Rs 50,000 each will be given to the kin of the deceased, besides financial help under the SC-ST Act.
PTI