A Dalit man accused of stalking a woman was stripped and whipped publicly in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur district, police said Wednesday. The incident, which took place last week in Bhaisodamandi village under the Bhanpura police station’s jurisdiction, came to public attention after a video went viral. In the footage, the victim, half-naked with his face blackened and a garland of shoes hung around his neck, is seen being paraded through the village streets by a group of people. Another video shows a woman striking the man with a belt. Mandsaur SP Abhishek Anand said: “A video came to notice regarding a person being beaten up. A crime was immediately registered and action has been taken.” The case has been registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), police said. The chain of events began when a woman lodged a complaint on September 29, leading to an FIR against the Dalit man under Sections 74 (assault or use of criminal force with the intent to outrage a woman's modesty) and 78 (stalking) of the BNS. However, the assault on the man had gone unreported until the video surfaced on social media. Following the video’s emergence on Tuesday, police contacted the victim, who had not initially disclosed the attack during questioning. Subsequently, an FIR was filed against Rameshwar Gurjar, Balchand Gurjar, and others under the BNS and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act based on the Dalit man’s complaint. “Two accused involved in the incident have been rounded up by the police. Another fact has come to light in relation to this incident that a crime regarding molestation of a woman was registered against the person seen in the said video footage three days ago,” Anand said. The police have detained the accused and have also served a notice to the Dalit man in relation to the case filed against him.
