Bhopal: Two dalit kids, including a girl, in a Madhya Pradesh village were on Wednesday lynched by two men when they were attending nature’s call in the open.
Preliminary investigation by police suggested that superstition driven by evil practice of ‘untouchability’ might have led to the gory incident.
The incident took place in the village of Bhavkhedi under Sirsoud police station in Shivpuri district.
The victims, Roshni (12) and Avinash (10) were hit repeatedly on their heads with bamboo canes by the two accused, identified as Hakim Singh Yadav (42) and Rameshwar Yadav (40), when they were defecating in the open in the village at around 6.30 in the morning, leaving them grievously wounded, Shivpuri district superintendent of police (SP) Rajesh Singh Chandel told this newspaper.
The village, according to locals, had been declared as open defecation-free on April 4, 2018.
Manoj Balmiki, a labourer whose youngest sister Roshani (12) and his only son Avinash (10) became victims of the horrific crime, alleged that the family faced discrimination in the village due to their caste.
“We don’t have a toilet at home. The children went out to defecate in the morning. Rameshwar and Hakam, who were standing near their handpump, shouted at them for defecating on the road and rained blows of lathis (sticks) on their heads while the children were relieving themselves, killing them in seconds,” a tearful Balmiki said.
“I saw the accused fleeing. The duo were caught by people some distance away,” he said.
The wounded kids were rushed to the district hospital in Shivpuri where the doctors had declared them dead.
Both the accused were arrested. DC Anugraha said aid of Rs 50,000 each will be given to the kin of the deceased, besides financial help under the SC-ST Act. On village being declared ODF, she said she will find out if it was true.
The two accused attacked the two kids without any provocation and later took video of the gory sight of the victims lying in a pool of blood and writhing in pain, the police said.
“It appeared the two accused were mentally deranged. Medical tests on them would establish if they were mentally ill”, the police said.
A police source said that after he was arrested, Hakam Yadav said he killed the kids as God had commanded him in his dream to kill “demons”.
The victims’ kin told police that the accused were preventing their family to build toilet in their home, forcing them to defecate in the open.
