The Madhya Pradesh Police has arrested two men after a video showing an Adivasi man being beaten up in the Betul district was widely shared on social media, reported The Indian Express on Wednesday.
The assault took place on November 16. However, the complainant approached the police only on Tuesday after the video started making rounds on social media.
In the video, the complainant is seen hanging upside down from the ceiling after being stripped naked while some men assault him with belts and sticks.
The Adivasi man, who runs a food stall, alleged in his complaint that the accused men were trying to extort money from him.
He said that on November 16, his friend Rinkesh Chouhan took him to the house of a man identified as Sohrab, who was present there with at least five other men.
“They threatened me and took off all my clothes,” the complainant was quoted as saying by The Indian Express. “After this, I was hung from the ceiling. They kept beating me with belts and sticks for a long time.”
The complainant said that he did not approach the police at the time as he feared that the men would also attack his family, reported NDTV.
“They had a gun, and I heard they one of them has also committed a murder, which is why I did not tell anyone,” he told the news channel. “When the video went viral, I informed my elder brother that this had happened to me a few months ago.”
According to Betul Superintendent of Police Sidharth Choudhary, the Adivasi man was beaten due to local rivalry.
This comes a day after another video showing some men assaulting an Adivasi man in Betul district started making rounds on social media. The group, led by a man identified as Chanchal Rajput, hurled casteist slurs at the Adivasi man and beat him up.
“At around 11:30 pm, while I was on my way home, I was picked up near Subhash School by Chanchal Rajput and his Bajrang Dal friends,” said the Adivasi man. “They assaulted me physically and verbally, and used casteist slurs against me.”
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