Police brutality in Jyotiraditya Scindia's bastion triggers row

Police brutality against a Dalit couple that consumed poison to protest forcible eviction from their land in Guna district has snowballed into a massive political row in the run up to by elections for 25 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh. A video showing police brutally beating up a Dalit family and their kids crying as their parents lay on the ground after drinking poison, went viral on Wednesday. The video shows cops raining lathis on the couple and a policewoman kicking them. In the melee, two of them drank poison and fell down on the ground, and their children sat wailing beside them.

The nationwide outrage triggered by the video forced chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to order a high-level probe into “the unfortunate incident” and remove the Guna district collector and the superintendent of police. However, the Congress is not satisfied with the government action.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday condemned the attack, saying "our fight is against this injustice". Former chief minister Kamal Nath has indicated that the police brutality could be a major election plank in the forthcoming by elections.

Significantly, the Guna district where the incident happened, is considered Jyotiraditya Scindia’s area of political influence . He has represented the Guna Lok Sabha seat four times and lost to BJP candidate in the 2019 election. Out of the 25 seats, which are slated to go to polls in September, 17 are in Gwalior-Chambal region of which Guna is a part. Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes account for over 40% of the total votes in the region.

The incident of police brutality, which occurred on Tuesday, might have gone unnoticed had it not been shot on video and gone viral. Guna SP Tarun Nayak had earlier denied that force was used. “Only when some people obstructed police from taking the duo to hospital that police used force. Our priority was to protect the lives of those who had taken poison. They are out of danger now, only because they were brought to hospital.”

The Guna district administration sought to pass the incident off as “action against land mafia”.

According to the district administration, Rajkumar Ahirwar and his wife had taken poison after being “instigated by some people”. The 45-bigha government land in Jaganpur Chak was allotted to a set up a college but was encroached upon by ‘land mafia’ Gappu Pardhi, said a government tweet. He had ‘rented’ it out to Rajkumar Ahirwar, who was farming on it.

On Tuesday, when revenue officials and police went to clear the encroachment, the Dalit family opposed the eviction, saying they had finished sowing the farm after taking loans from locals, according to government’s version.

However, after the video went viral triggering nationwide outrage, the chief minister decided to punish the Guna collector S Vishwanathan and SP Tarun Nayak . They were removed in an order on Wednesday night. BJP Rajya Sabha member Jyotiraditya Scindia also called the incident unfortunate. He spoke to Shivraj Singh Chouhan and called for strong action against the insensitive officers.

Home minister Narottam Mishra said, “A team of senior officials has been sent to Guna to probe the circumstances under which the incident took place, who is responsible for it and what action should be taken against them."

After the video went viral, former CM Kamal Nath tweeted: “Where is the Shivraj government taking this state? How can innocent children be beaten up so mercilessly? If there’s any dispute on the land, it can be solved through legal means, not by taking the law in one’s hand and beating up a family, children and their relatives. Were they beaten up because they were Dalits and poor farmers?