Dubai: A poor couple in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh drank pesticide in a suicide attempt, after being forced to watch their crops being bulldozed by revenue department officials, yesterday. Disturbing visuals of the couple being assaulted by police officers in the state's Guna district, went viral in India, last night, sparking an outrage on Twitter.
The viral video shows the Dalit (lowest rung of India’s outlawed caste system) couple Ram Kumar Ahirwar and Savitri Devi being assaulted by cops and dragged into an ambulance after they consumed pesticide.
The alleged police brutality didn't end there. Reportedly, the couple’s relatives were also assaulted by cops, while trying to save the two. And the policemen went on to abuse and push away the weeping children of the couple.
Indian journalist @rohini_sgh tweeted: “A child holding onto his father who was brutally thrashed by Madhya Pradesh police in Scindia’s Guna district and who ended up drinking pesticide as a result. If this image doesn’t break your heart and make you angry then you don’t have a heart. Horrific.”
The issue stemmed from the Madhya Pradesh government’s allotment of a large part of public land for the construction of a Model Science College two years back. However, the land was being used by the Dalit family, which claims to have been farming on it for a long time.
According to Indian news reports, Ram Kumar’s wife Savitri Bai said: “We don’t know whose land it is, we’ve been farming on it for a long time. If our standing crop is destroyed, we don’t have any other option but to kill ourselves. We have a debt burden of Rs3 lakhs (Dh14,646) on our heads - who will pay it, the government or someone else?”
Considering it as a case of encroachment, a revenue department team escorted by cops went to get the land vacated, and pave the way for building a boundary wall, on Tuesday. However, the couple resisted the government team’s bid, and subsequently attempted suicide.
According to Indian news reports, after the incident, the Guna district police lodged a case under 353, 141, 309 of IPC against seven people, including the couple at the Guna Cantt police station.
On Wednesday, Guna district collector S Vishwanath justified the cops’ action, and said: “We’ve probed the entire episode and checked the entire footage of the incident. Our team had to act only after the couple consumed pesticide, and had to be rushed to the hospital. Had the team not acted, the couple could have died and more such cases could have taken place. The action was also essential as some others present on the spot were hell-bent on making the incident even more serious, but our priority was to rush the couple to the hospital. The couple is now out of danger."
News websites also reported that according to the district administration, the Dalit family was pushed to the forefront by a land mafia only to stop the encroachment removal team. Apparently, the Dalit family had taken possession of the land after paying Rs3 lakh to the land mafia.
When, Twitter user @Gruham_ commented on the issue of encroachment and tweeted: “You encroach on somebody else's land for years, despite being told to vacate, and when the authorities arrive to evict you, you play your trump card by feigning suicide.”
Twitter user @falxfel replied: “They were doing it to put food on their table, to fulfill their most basic needs…. Rich people do this so very often, to buy their third or fourth mansion, and diamond tiaras! I don’t think they’ve been subjected to such brutality. NOTHING, justifies this inhumane treatment.”
Many Twitter users and members of the opposition party in the state said that any land dispute should have been resolved as per law, instead of the police manhandling the Dalit farmer couple and their children. Many also used hashtag #DalitLivesMatter to voice their stand against atrocities faced by Dalits.
After the incident went viral, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia (@JM_Scindia), took to Twitter and posted: “The Guna SP (Superintendent of Police) and Collector have been removed, and inquiry has been sought into the incident. I am confident that action will be taken against all those who are responsible for this heinous act.”
