Dalit Man Beaten for Riding a Bike in Front of Sarpanch’s House

A 30-year-old Dalit man was allegedly beaten up for riding a motorcycle past the house of a sarpanch in a village in Tikamgarh, Madhya Pradesh, the police told PTI on Monday, 25 June.

A video purportedly showing the incident has gone viral on social media.

The police on Sunday night arrested the sarpanch of Dharampur village and four others in connection with the incident which occurred last week, Deri police post’s assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Ramsewak Jha said.

The victim, Dayaram Ahirwar, in his complaint alleged that on 21 June, the village sarpanch, Hemant Kurmi, his brothers and one of their neighbours beat him up severely after objecting to his riding a motorcycle in front of their house, Jha told PTI.

While speaking to ANI, Ahirwar said that the men hurled casteist abuses while thrashing him.

I was going to the market and passed by sarpanch Hemant Kurmi’s house. While returning, his men stopped me and started beating me. They hurled casteist abuses and threatened to kill me if I rode past his house on a motorcycle again.

Dayaram Ahirwar, Victim

Ahirwar also stated that the accused told him that he should not have driven through the road in front of their house and should have dragged the motorcycle instead, according to PTI.

Two days after the incident, a video clip of the incident went viral on social media in which Hemant Kurmi was purportedly seen abusing and beating the victim along with the other accused.

Based on the victim's complaint, the police arrested Hemant Kurmi, his brothers Vinod Kurmi, Munnu Kurmi and Aniruddh Kurmi, and their neighbour Dinesh Yadav, Jha told PTI.

The accused were booked under relevant Sections of the Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Indian Penal Code Sections 341, 342 (wrongful confinement), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 294 (abuse in public) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

(With inputs from ANI and PTI)