The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) issued a notice Madhya Pradesh government today after a Dalit sarpanch and his family members were allegedly assaulted by a gram panchayat secretary from an upper caste.
The alleged incident took place during a flag hoisting function on Independence Day at Dhamchi village in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh.
The commission, on the orders of Chairman Vijay Sampla, has sought an action taken report immediately from the state government.
According to the information received by the commission, visuals of the alleged incident have gone viral on social media and picked up by various news websites. In the alleged clip, one Hannu Basor can be seen getting kicked by Sunil Tiwari who was upset as the sarpanch had hoisted the tricolour during the Independence Day function in his absence.
The commission had also received information that the sarpanch's wife and daughter-in-law were also beaten up by the secretary when they came to his rescue, a statement said.
Soon after the visuals went viral, Mr Sampla tweeted from his Twitter handle and asked the Madhya Pradesh's chief secretary, director general of police as well as the district collector and superintendent of police of Chattarpur to submit the report through post or email.
He cautioned the officers that if the report is not received, the NCSC might exercise the powers of the civil court conferred on it under Article 338 of the Constitution and issue summons for their personal appearance in Delhi.
"This is saddening that the Dalit sarpanch was attacked for hoisting the national flag during the Independence Day function," Mr Sampla said in a tweet in Hindi.
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