MP man accused of urinating on tribal youth arrested; Congress demands CBI probe

Bhopal: Police on Wednesday arrested a man accused of urinating on a tribal youth in Madhya Pradesh's Sidhi district, even as the opposition Congress demanded a CBI probe into the incident and demolition of the accused's property.

The MP Bharatiya Janata Party has constituted a four-member committee to conduct a probe into the incident, state party chief V D Sharma said.

A video of the incident went viral on social media platforms on Tuesday, following which the police registered a case against the accused, identified as Pravesh Shukla.

Former state Congress president Kantilal Bhuria claimed the video was a few months old.

The case was registered against the accused under Indian Penal Code sections 294 (obscene acts), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace), and provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act,  an official from the MP Chief Minister's Office said on Tuesday.

Action under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) was also initiated, he added.

The Congress had claimed the accused was linked to the BJP, but the ruling party denied the allegation.

State Home Minister Narottam Mishra termed the man's act as heinous, condemnable and a shame on humanity.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati also said the act was shameful and condemnable and demanded demolition of the property of the accused.

Asked about the demand by the Congress of "bulldozer action" against the accused, Mishra, who is also the state government's spokesperson, said 'bulldozer action is not taken on the basis of Congress' demand...bulldozer runs only when there is an encroachment.'

Earlier in the day, Mishra told reporters that the accused was arrested. Without taking any name, the minister said bulldozers will also run over encroachments.

The accused was arrested at around 2 am on Wednesday on the basis of leads. He is being questioned, Additional Superintendent of Police Anjulata Patle said.

"We were searching for him and cops from different police stations around his village were on alert," the official said.

The chief minister in a tweet on Tuesday evening said, "A viral video from Sidhi district has come to my notice...I have instructed the administration to arrest the culprit and take the strictest action and also invoke the National Security Act."

Asked why the police did not act in the matter earlier when the video of the incident went viral, Narottam Mishra said all this is a matter of probe.

Bhuria said, "The incident that occurred in Sidhi is an insult to the tribal community. The state government should hand over the investigation to the CBI and the case should be heard in the court of law in non-BJP states."

He demanded that the victim's family be given a compensation of Rs 2 crore and a government job to two members of his family.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that atrocities on tribals and Dalits are increasing under the BJP rule as he decried the Sidhi incident.

He said the real face of BJP’s hatred towards tribals and Dalits was exposed with the “inhuman act."

“Atrocities on tribal brothers and sisters are increasing in the BJP rule. The entire humanity has been put to shame by the inhuman crime of a BJP leader in Madhya Pradesh," Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi on Wednesday.

“This is the disgusting face and real character of BJP’s hatred towards tribals and Dalits," he said.