A Dalit man was brutally beaten to death in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district on Thursday following an altercation over a sexual harassment case filed by the victim’s sister in 2019. According to reports, the victim, identified as 18-year-old Nitin Ahirwar, and the accused got into a heated argument over the withdrawal of a sexual harassment case filed by his sister in 2019.
Ahirwar was killed and his house was vandalized after he refused to withdraw a sexual harassment case filed by his sister. The accused, Vikram Singh Thakur had been pressuring the victim’s sister to withdraw her complaint.
The victim’s mother was stripped naked when she tried to intervene.
A murder case was registered and eight persons, including the main accused, were arrested in connection with the matter. Some of the accused, including the village head’s husband, are absconding and police have formed teams to conduct search operations in an effort to nab them.
“A case has been filed against nine individuals, including the main accused under Section 307. After the death of the victim at the hospital, Section 302 and the SC/ST Act were also applied," Additional SP Sanjeev Uike was quoted by India Today as saying.
According to the victim’s sister’s testimony, the accused came to her house to try and convince them to withdraw the sexual harassment case. However, when the victim’s mother refused, they threatened her and vandalised her house.
“They left the house and met Nitin near the bus stand in the village and started thrashing him. When my mother went there to intervene, they beat her up too and stripped her. I pleaded with them to leave them. However, they threatened to rape me. I ran into a jungle and called the police for help," the victim’s sister said.