Dalit woman stripped, son beaten to death by men over daughter's sexual harassment case

Bhopal, August 28

A Dalit youth was beaten to death and his mother allegedly stripped and assaulted by a group of men in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district.

The shocking incident happened on Thursday night at Barodia Naungar village.

The accused also vandalised the Dalit family’s house. The deceased’s mother said police gave her a towel to wrap herself, after they rushed to the spot.

At least nine people belonging to the OBC community and the minority community have so far been arrested under sections pertaining to murder, sexual harassment and voluntarily causing hurt, a Sagar district police official said on Saturday.

According to the police, a group of men led by prime accused Vikram Singh (28) stormed into the house of 20-year-old Nitin Ahirwar on Thursday night and forced him to withdraw a 2019 case of sexual harassment of Ahirwar’s sister by Vikram and family members.

When Ahirwar refused, the attackers mercilessly assaulted him with sticks and rods. As alleged by his mother, when she came to save her son, the accused men stripped her and thrashed her.

The critically hurt Dalit youth was rushed to the Bundelkhand Medical College in Sagar district,  where the doctors declared him dead on arrival.

Meanwhile, referring to the June 2023 incident of razing of several houses of Dalit families, including those built under the PM Awaas Yojana on the forest department land, state Congress chief Kamal Nath said, “During the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led government, Sagar district is turning into an experimental lab of Dalit harassment. We demand adequate compensation to the bereaved family. I have talked to the family and a Congress delegation has met them in Sagar district.”