Dalit 'torture': Police denies claims, BJP hits out at Congress for 'false' info

Bhopal (The Uttam Hindu): Madhya Pradesh Police have denied a Dalit youth's claim that he was tortured and urinated upon when he went to file a complaint against people who thrashed him. The controversy erupted after after a video went viral in which, a Dalit youth, identifying himself as Deepak Malviya, alleged that he was tortured in a police lock-up in the Raigarh district.

Malviya claimed he had gone there to file a complaint against persons who had beaten him up a few days back, however, police took him inside the police station and "tortured" him. "A couple of cops took me inside the police station and gave me an electric shock. Police did not register my complaint and instead tortured me," Malviya claimed in his video. On Tuesday, Congress state unit chief Jitu Patwari shared the video on his official social media account, alleging that Dalit youth was brutally beaten up by police.

"Torturing Dalits and urinating on them have become common in Madhya Pradesh," Patwari said. However, Rajgarh district police said, "No such incident occurred." "There are over a dozen CCTV cameras installed in the police station which are controlled directly from the SP office. No such incident occurred in Narsinghgarh Police Station," a Police official said in a video message issued on Wednesday.

He further stated Malviya was booked for creating a ruckus eight months back. Later, he was also arrested for inciting violence through his false messages on social media and both cases were being heard in a district court. Police officials said Malviya wanted to file a complaint against Sarpanch of his village. "SP (Rajgarh) had ordered an investigation on Malviya's allegation, which turned out to be a fake, that's why the case wasn't registered. Now he has come up with a new story of torture at the police station, which is completely wrong," the police official added.

After the police official's statement on Wednesday, Madhya Pradesh BJP accused the Congress of spreading wrong information on social media in a "deliberate attempt to defame" the BJP government. "Congress was trying to create unrest in Madhya Pradesh, which is why false allegations were being made against police and the state government. The police have clarified the entire matter, therefore Jitu Patwari should apologise for his false claims," MP BJP media in-charge, Ashish Agarwal said.