Violent incidents of crime including excesses on people of vulnerable sections have rocked Madhya Pradesh for the past 10 days, prompting Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to hold a high-level meeting of home department officials and directing them to take immediate corrective steps.
Sources said that the chief minister expressed deep annoyance over the law and order situation and the fact that it was tarnishing the image of the state across the country. Videos of many of the incidents had gone viral on social media, causing widespread uproar.
Chouhan is said to have warned the officials that they had one week to rectify the situation, failing which he would himself have to take to the field.
Even as the meeting, not confirmed officially, was being held in Bhopal, a big group of tribal people under the banner of Jay Adiwasi Yuva Shakti (JAYS) marched from Budhni to Shahganj police station in the chief minister’s constituency in Sehore district to protest the “inaction” of police in alleged murder of a tribal youth about a month ago. The demonstrators broke four police barricades and laid siege to the police station in a protest that continued for over four hours. They decided to back off only after the newly appointed superintendent of police, Mayank Awasthi assured them that due action after a probe will be taken, sources said. The SP could not be contacted for comments.
This is the second big protest by JAYS—a tribal youth group with much impact in western MP— in a week. On September 7, the JAYS had held a huge demonstration in Neemuch to protest the death of a tribal youth who was tied to a vehicle and dragged after being beaten up.
In the past 10 days, several incidents of excesses on tribal people, members of minority community and others, including death of a tribal man allegedly due to excessive beating up in police custody in Khargone and murder of a tribal girl in Chhindwara, have come to light. Videos of many of these incidents went viral on social media.
On Wednesday, another incident in Burhanpur where an elderly tribal woman was hit with an iron rod on her private parts was reported, leading to a ruckus at the local police station. The police later rounded up the accused, Shubham Koite alias Golu, who is said to have terrorized the locals for a long time. Video of this incident also went viral.
Another big incident was reported on Monday when three people, including an office bearer of BJP’s Dindori district unit, were held for the rape of a minor girl in a hotel in Bhopal. The rape had allegedly happened on August 18. Among the two other accused was an office bearer of the JD(U), Dinesh Avadhiya and a petrol pump owner Amit Soni.
The BJP office bearer Manish Nayak was later expelled from the party. The Congress has however alleged that another senior office bearer of the BJP was also involved in the case but he was being saved at the behest of the ruling party. BJP spokesman Dr Hitesh Bajpai said that the chief minister was very strict and serious about crime against women and law would take its own course in the state. He said there was nothing political about the crime.
Meanwhile, a triple murder of a family was also reported from Gwalior on September 7 and the main accused turned out to be a nephew of the deceased couple.
