''Further investigations are underway,'' police said (Representational)
A Dalit man was made to drink urine after being assaulted in captivity allegedly by two upper caste persons in Madhya Pardesh's Narsinghpur district, an official said on Monday.
The incident took place in Barha village in Gadarwara tehsil on July 30, the official said quoting the FIR which was registered in SC/ST police station in the district.
The official said Sallu Budholia and Suraj Kachera were charged under provisions of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 296 (obscene act in public place), 115 (voluntarily causing hurt), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) 351(2) (criminal intimidation) and 3(5) (joint criminal liability) as well as SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
"The victim (34) has alleged Sallu Budholia and Suraj Kachera, who is known to him, kidnapped him on a motorcycle, kept him captive and demanded that he get Rs 2 lakh from one Premnarayan Verma. When he refused to do so, they started beating him mercilessly and also abused him on caste lines," the official said.
"Later, they took him to an eatery where they, including Verma, had food. After Verma left, the two hit him, took him back to Barha Bada and enroute made him drink urine," the official said quoting the FIR.
The FIR stated the victim enjoyed a good reputation in the village because he had helped free 32 acres of grazing land from musclemen who had encroached the plot.
"Budholia and Kachera were taken into custody. We registered an FIR promptly. Further investigations are underway," Narsinghpur SP Amit Kumar told reporters.
Incidentally, in July last year, a video showing a tribal youth being urinated upon by a man, identified as Pravesh Shukla, allegedly close to the former BJP MLA Kedarnath Shukla, had gone viral on social media.
It had caused national outrage, prompting then chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to call the victim home and wash his feet as an act of atonement.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)