Two Dalit children were allegedly beaten to death by two persons for defecating on a street in front of a panchayat building in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri district on Wednesday, police said.
The father of one of the deceased alleged that they were facing discrimination over their caste in Bhavkedhi village, where the incident took place in the morning.
The two accused, Hakim Yadav and his brother Rameshwar Yadav, have been arrested and booked under IPC section for murder and provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Sirsod police station's inspector R S Dhakad said.
The investigation so far suggests that there are only two accused, he said.
They attacked the children when the latter were defecating on a street in front of the panchayat building around 6.30 am, the police said quoting complaints filed by the deceased's parents.
The two children, Roshani Balmiki (12) and Avinash Balmiki (10), suffered serious injuries in the incident and were rushed to the district hospital where doctors declared them dead, the police said.
Later talking to reporters, the deceased boy's father, Manoj Balmiki, alleged that they were facing discrimination over their caste in Bhavkedhi village.
He claimed they were allowed to draw water from the village hand-pump only after all other locals did so.
"I had a heated argument with the accused two years ago and they abused me over caste lines and threatened to kill me. They wanted me to work for them as a labourer for a meagre sum," he said.
Meanwhile, security has been stepped up in Bhavkedhi village, located around 25 km from the district headquarters, the police added.
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