Dalit man thrashed, forced to drink urine in Madhya Pradesh; three arrested

A 25-year-old Dalit man was allegedly assaulted and forced to drink urine twice in Bhind district of Madhya Pradesh, leading to the arrest of three individuals, police said on Tuesday.

Prima facie, the main accused targeted the man after he quit working as his driver, an official said, adding that further investigation is underway.

According to the complainant, three persons abducted him from Gwalior on Monday and brought him to Bhind in a vehicle, where he was beaten and forced to drink urine, said ASP Sanjeev Pathak.

The victim is a resident of Akutpura village in the Surpura police station area of Bhind.

“A case has been registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and under relevant sections of the BNS for kidnapping, assault, and inhuman treatment,” Pathak said, adding that the three arrested accused are identified as Sonu Barua, Alok Sharma, and Chhotu Ojha.

The victim is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital, he said.

Speaking to reporters, the victim claimed that he was abducted from his in-laws' home in the Deendayal Nagar area of Gwalior and taken to Bhind in an SUV.

He was beaten with a plastic pipe, he said, adding that the trio stopped the vehicle midway and forced him to drink urine from a bottle.

The victim was taken to Akutpura village, where he was tied with an iron chain and was forced to drink urine again, he said.

A police officer said the victim used to drive a Bolero vehicle for the main accused, Sonu Barua, a resident of Datawali village. He stopped driving recently, which prompted Barua to target the youth.

The latest incident comes days after a Dalit youth opposing illegal mining was allegedly beaten up and urinated upon by four persons in the Katni district.

In May, a group of persons allegedly kidnapped a relative from the Guna district following a dispute and taken him to Rajasthan, where they forced him to drink urine and paraded him in a woman’s clothes, police had said.

In March this year, a man was allegedly beaten up, forced to drink urine, and wear a garland of shoes after he eloped with a married woman in the Ujjain district.

A viral video in July 2023 had triggered national outrage after it captured a man urinating on a tribal in the Sidhi district.