Dalit man ‘assaulted, urinated on’ in Madhya Pradesh after ‘objecting to illegal mining’

Chaudhary alleged that the assailants also hurled casteist abuse at him. “I objected to illegal mining in my area, I was assaulted, and they hurled casteist abuse at me. They then urinated on me and asked, ‘How can you raise this issue?’ When my mother tried to intervene, she was pulled by her hair and assaulted. I ran for my life and reached Katni hospital for treatment. My whole body hurts,” he said.

Katni Superintendent of Police Abhinav Vishwakarma told The Indian Express, “According to our investigation, the complainant, a Dalit man, has alleged that he was urinated on by a group of people following an assault. We are probing the allegations.”

In his complaint to the Katni SP, Chaudhary alleged that on the evening of October 13, he had objected to illegal mining activity being carried out by one Ram Bihari Haldkar near Ramgarha hill. Haldkar allegedly hurled casteist abuses at him and threatened to kill him for intervening.

Later that night, as Chaudhary was returning home with his mother, he was allegedly stopped near the village cremation ground by the sarpanch, Ramanuj Pandey, his son Pawan Pandey, nephew Satish Pandey, and several others. The group allegedly kicked and punched him and struck him with iron rods.

According to the complainant, Pawan Pandey allegedly urinated on him while he lay on the ground. He also allegedly hurled caste slurs and warned the complainant against approaching the police.

Chaudhary said that for him, the “worst thing was being humiliated.”

“I feel embarrassed to go to my village. I have small children and have to live for them. I raised the issue of illegal mining near my field. I saw them there with bulldozers and asked them not to excavate. Ram Bihari said, ‘Who are you to speak up? What is your standing? Leave or we will cut you into pieces’. Praveen Pandey, urinated on my face, he is the son of the local sarpanch, Ramanuj Pandey,” he said.

Additional Superintendent of Police Santosh Kumar said, “Ramanuj Pandey, Ram Bihari Pandey, Pawan Pandey and Satish Pandey allegedly assaulted and humiliated Rajkumar Chaudhary. All are residents of Matwara village. A case has been registered under relevant sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The accused are absconding, and efforts are underway to arrest them.”

The Katni police have booked the accused under charges of assault and criminal intimidation, along with provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The incident bears a resemblance to a case that made national headlines in 2023, when a video surfaced from neighbouring Sidhi district showing a tribal youth being urinated upon by an upper-caste man. That incident sparked widespread outrage and became a major political flashpoint ahead of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections later that year.