A one-and-a-half-year-old boy died after being hit with a stick by his neighbour, whose son had urinated in the open, leading to an argument between the two families in Sagar in Madhya Pradesh, police said on Thursday, 3 October.
The incident occurred on Tuesday evening in Bagaspur village under the Bhangarh Police Station area, about 100-kms from the district headquarters, police said.
As per the complaint, Ram Singh and his son Umesh attacked Adivasi, who was holding his one-and-a-half-year-old boy in his arms, with sticks, he added.
There was an old rivalry between these families, he said. The accused, identified as Ram Singh and his 20-year old son Umesh, have been arrested, police said.
“Ram Singh and his son Umesh have been booked under relevant sections of the IPC and placed under arrest,” the officer said.
When asked whether the families involved in the incident had toilets at home or not, Mishra expressed his ignorance.
The incident comes a week after two Dalit children were beaten to death, allegedly by upper-caste men, in Shivpuri district for defecating in the open.
On 25 September, two Dalit children - Roshani Balmiki (12) and her nephew Avinash Balmiki (10) were beaten to death by two persons for defecating on a street in front of a panchayat building at Bhavkhedi village in Shivpuri district. They did not have toilets at home.
(The copy has been edited for clarity.)
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