Dalit murder in Madhya Pradesh: man beaten to death for drawing water to irrigate fields in Shivpuri

On Wednesday, police said a Dalit man was beaten to death by a local sarpanch and his family members for filling water from an ordinary hand pump at Indragarh village in Madhya Pradesh’s Shivpuri district.

According to police, 27-year-old Narad Jatav, who came to stay with his maternal aunt Vidya Jatav in Indragarh, died after he was allegedly beaten up by village head Padma Singh Dhakad and his family with sticks and rubber tubes over a dispute over filling water from a local hand pump into irrigate their fields.

Narad was a resident of Duran village in Gwalior district.

On the day of the incident on Tuesday, when Narad Jatav started watering his aunt’s fields, Sarpanch Padma Singh Dhakad, his family members Betal Dhakad, Jaswant, Awadhesh, Moharpal, Ankesh and Dakha Bai and Vimal Dhakad got into a heated argument with the police said that ​a Dalit for irrigating the fields.

First, they hurled insults at Narad and then started beating him with wooden sticks and rubber pipes, while passers-by looked on, and one of them even recorded a video on his mobile phone. When Narad lost consciousness, the accused fled the scene.

Narad’s relatives quickly rushed him to a nearby hospital, where he died from his injuries.

“My brother Narad Jatav has come to Indragarh. Our maternal grandfather has land here. The sarpanch and his family members beat my brother to death over groundwater near a field,” said the victim’s brother Rajkumar Jatav.

Meanwhile, police registered a case against eight people after Rajkumar Jatav filed a complaint.

“Four people have been arrested in this case. The two sides had an argument, resulting in a water dispute resulting in the death of a Scheduled Caste (SC) person. A case has been registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Caste (Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities)) Act, 1989.” said senior police officer Sanjeev Mule.

A search has been launched for the absconding accused and further investigation into the matter is ongoing.

(With inputs from Pramod Bhargava.)