In a video that surfaced on Twitter on Thursday, a mentally ill man, who was later found dead, was seen being beaten up. A goon can be seen thrashing the man, asking him to prove his identity, repeatedly questioning him to verify if his name was Muhammad.
The goon repeatedly asks the victim to show his Aadhar card for identity verification.
“Tera naam kya hai? ‘Mohammed‘ naam hai tera?… Aadhaar card dikha… (What is your name? Mohammed? Show me your Aadhaar Card.),” the goon is heard saying.
In the video from Madhya Pradesh’s Neemuch city, the man, identified as Bhawarlal Jain, is seen being physically assaulted, allegedly under the impression that he was a Muslim.
The attacker has been identified as Dinesh Kushwaha, the husband of a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporator.
The investigating officer from the Neemuch police confirmed that Jain was found dead after the incident.
In another video, the villagers and relatives of the victim can be seen complaining to and pleading with police personnel to file a complaint against the accused under sections for murder.
“We had been looking for him for more than four days now. If the video had been going viral, why didn’t the police take any action? We want you to file a case under section 302 (Punishment for murder),” the group of people can be heard saying.
“We have been investigating the video and registered an FIR on his brother’s complaint. The matter is being probed,” Station House Officer (SHO) of Manasa Police Station, KL Dangi TI, was quoted by news agency ANI, as saying.
A case against the accused has been booked under sections 302 and 304 (death due to negligence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Following the incident, MP home minister, Narottam Mishra, while speaking to the media, confirmed the same.
“He was old, got lost, and could not introduce himself. His family told us he was mentally unstable. The accused was identified and booked under 302 and 304 IPC. We are maintaining communication with family, they are satisfied,” ANI quoted Mishra as saying.
Notably, communal violence erupted in Neemuch after a group of Hindu activists attempted to install an idol of Lord Hanuman near a Muslim shrine in the Purani Kacheri area last Sunday. The district administration had seized the idol on Tuesday.
Reacting to one after another incident in the district, former chief minister and the state Congress president Kamal Nath accused the BJP-led state government of failing to maintain a law and order situation in the state.
“What is happening in Madhya Pradesh after all? Tribals were lynched in Seoni, incidents of Guna, Mhow, Mandla, and now an elderly person whose name is being told as Bhanwarlal Jain in Manasa of Neemuch district of the state,” Nath tweeted.
(With inputs from IANS)
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