Days after a video of two Dalit men being thrashed in Rajasthan's Nagaur went viral, another video of a man being beaten up in Barmer has surfaced on Twitter.
The video shows a man being pulled by his hair by two men, who later go on to beat him. The victim, identified as Mohd Khan, is seen sitting on the ground with folded hands.
Khan, a resident of Tirsingdi village in Barmer district, was allegedly beaten up by three men on 29 January 2020, for an alleged mobile theft. The video surfaced online on Wednesday, 19 February.
(Trigger Warning: This Tweet contains visuals some readers may find disturbing)
Sharad Choudhary, Barmer's SP, has confirmed that, “The main accused, Moti Singh and two others have been arrested by the police.”
Moti Singh belongs to the Rajput caste, the SP said in an interaction with media personnel.
In the FIR filed by the police, a copy of which has been accessed by The Quint, a case has been filed under sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement), 365 (kidnapping and abduction), 384 (punishment for extortion) and 34 (criminal act by several persons with common intention) of the IPC.
The FIR has been filed by the victim's brother, Murad Khan, who has also alleged in his complaint that “the accused forcibly removed clothes of Mohd Khan and tried to insert an iron rod into his private parts, even forcing the victim to consume alcohol, which was against his religious belief.”
Barmer's SP Sharad Choudhary has,however, refuted allegations of sexual assault so far:
“The horrible actions that have been mentioned in the FIR have not been corroborated by the video that went viral.”Sharad Choudhary, Barmer’s SP
Speaking to a local news channel, victim's lawyer, Gaurav Khatri said:
“The complaint has been filed on the basis of allegations by his brother. The victim has sustained injuries and was beaten up so much that he couldn’t go back to his village because of fear.”Gaurav Khatri, Lawyer
Murad Khan while speaking to a local news channel, said that he had got in touch with his brother after seeing the viral video online.
“My brother confirmed that the accused have five such videos and had threatened to circulate the video where he was naked,” Murad told local media.
(This is a developing story)
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