Dalit man thrashed, forced to drink urine in Madhya Pradesh; 3 arrested

Bhind (MP): A 25-year-old Dalit man was allegedly assaulted and forced to drink urine in Madhya Pradesh's Bhind district, leading to the arrest of three individuals, police said.

Prima facie, the main accused targeted the man after he quit working as his driver, an official on Tuesday said, adding that the victim was undergoing treatment in a hospital and further investigation was under way.

According to the complainant, three persons abducted him from Gwalior on Monday and brought him to Bhind in a vehicle, where he was beaten up and forced to drink urine, Additional Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Pathak said.

The victim is a resident of Akutpura village in the Surpura police station area of Bhind.

Speaking to reporters, the victim claimed that he was abducted from his in-laws' home in Deendayal Nagar area of Gwalior and taken to Bhind in an SUV.

He was beaten up with a plastic pipe, he alleged, adding that the three persons stopped the vehicle midway and forced him to drink urine from a bottle.

The victim was taken to Akutpura village, where he was tied with an iron chain and was forced to drink urine again, he charged.

An official said the victim used to drive a four-wheeler for the main accused, Sonu Barua, a resident of Datawali village. The victim stopped driving recently, which prompted Barua to target him.

The victim is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital, Pathak said.

"A case has been registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for kidnapping, assault, and inhuman treatment," he said.

The three arrested accused have been identified as Sonu Barua, Alok Sharma, and Chhotu Ojha, the official added.

The latest incident comes days after a Dalit youth opposing illegal mining was allegedly beaten up and urinated upon by four persons in Katni district.

In May, a group of persons allegedly kidnapped a relative from Guna district following a dispute and taken him to Rajasthan, where they forced him to drink urine and paraded him in a woman's clothes, police had said.

In March this year, a man was allegedly beaten up, forced to drink urine, and wear a garland of shoes after he eloped with a married woman in Ujjain district.

A viral video in July 2023 had triggered national outrage after it captured a man urinating on a tribal in Sidhi district.