Dalit couple beaten, made to wear garlands of shoes in MP; 10 persons booked

An elderly Dalit couple has been allegedly beaten up and made to wear garlands of shoes in Madhya Pradesh’s Ashok Nagar district, police said on Sunday.

The couple’s son had allegedly been involved in an eve-teasing incident, they said.

A case has been registered against 10 persons who were at large in connection with the incident of thrashing the couple which took place on Friday in Kilora village under Mungaoli police station limits, an official said.

The couple’s son had been allegedly involved in eve-teasing the wife of one of the accused following which the Dalit family left the village, Mungaoli police station in-charge Gabbar Singh Gurjar said.

The couple came to the village recently, he said.

On Friday, the accused allegedly tied the 65-year-old man Dalit man and his wife aged 60 to a pole, beat them up and made them wear garlands of shoes, the official said.

Following a complaint by the victim woman, the police on Saturday registered a case against 10 persons under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 147 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly with common objective), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 294 (obscene act) and 506 (criminal intimidation) as well as provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, he said.

All the accused were absconding and efforts were on to trace them, the police added.